ouizy
Rock n' Roll Doggie
I had heard about this story yesterday and am absolutely appalled by what Rockford College did, and moreover what New York Times' Chris Hedges did. Basically the college had Hedges give this year's commencement speech and what he did was stand there and give an anti-war talk in front of a student body who protested him. Many of the students protested by turning their back on the speaker, but you can hear many of them passionately pleading for him to stop speaking and get off the stage (amongst all the boos.) Before I go on here is the link to the audio file of the speech:
http://www.rrstar.com/localnews/your_community/rockford/rcaudio.shtml
I believe a commencement speech has its appropriate place in the ceremony of graduation, however I also believe some of these colleges have skewed why the speech is given, and therefore who they select each year to give the speech. I believe the speech should be a positive, uplifting speech celebrating the students of the institution as they (in most cases) just spent the past four years of their lives busting their asses to earn a college degree (something many many people do not have the opportunity to receive.) The speech should emphasize how the students are about to enter the 'real world' and what kind of difference they can make once they are out there. The speech should talk of achievement, goals, and how to better the earth. Basically, I believe it should make the students feel good about what they have just accomplished, and get them excited for what lies ahead of them.
However, there is a trend these days for schools to basically hire speakers that are controversial for the sake of controversy. I am a huge proponent of the first amendment, and I believe everyone should have the right of free speech, but I do not believe a college graduation ceremony is the appropriate forum. The students (in most cases) just paid thousands and thousands of dollars to attend a university to attain a degree. Who do these universities think they are to hire someone to speak and anger the students who should be proud to be graduating from their university?
The graduation podium should not be a place for someone to stand and give a totally unrelated tirade about his opinions on war and say nothing, nothing to or about the students graduating from the institution that hired him to speak inthe first place. It is a disgrace. It would be a disgrace no matter how you feel about the war - whether you are for or against it, neither opinion matters. This is not the opportunity for you to stand and give your opinion about anything. It is, however, your job to give an inspiring speech and one that is positive in nature.
In my own life I have experienced this. At my graduation, a woman was hired to speak who was a female Asian writer who had written some books about Vietnam and was reknowned in some small literary circles. She did have some inspiring thoughts on how to live your life and be a good person in this world of evil, but a lot of her speech had to do with her life in Vietnam and war and peace. This is all well and good except I graduated during peacetime when there were no major conflicts in the world. It was also well and good except for the fact that I was an engineering student and most of her speech was about literature and the liberal arts (things I did not and do not much have a great interest in.) So the question is how appropriate a speaker was she for me, or many of my commrades in the engineering school. Not much. I joked that I would have rather had Bill Cosby speak (he spoke that year at another school) as he made a very inspirational speech, more a plea to the students to make this a better world. That to me is a good speech, he had no motive, and was not trying to put his interest ahead of the students whom should be celebrated.
I do not know why this has made me so mad, but after hearing that speech today the Rockford College administration should put forth a formal apology to its student body and it should truly be ashamed of itself. Had I been graduating from that school this year a lot would have had to be done to stop me from jumping on that stage and physically removing the speaker in the interest of the student body. They did manage to cut off his mike twice, but the administration allowed him to go on. It truly is a sad story as it has made many of the graduating class mad or upset, and their graduation day should be the last day to bring about these feelings. They should feel proud for what they accomplished, excited for waht is ahead, but rather their college decided to bring them down.
Shame.
http://www.rrstar.com/localnews/your_community/rockford/rcaudio.shtml
I believe a commencement speech has its appropriate place in the ceremony of graduation, however I also believe some of these colleges have skewed why the speech is given, and therefore who they select each year to give the speech. I believe the speech should be a positive, uplifting speech celebrating the students of the institution as they (in most cases) just spent the past four years of their lives busting their asses to earn a college degree (something many many people do not have the opportunity to receive.) The speech should emphasize how the students are about to enter the 'real world' and what kind of difference they can make once they are out there. The speech should talk of achievement, goals, and how to better the earth. Basically, I believe it should make the students feel good about what they have just accomplished, and get them excited for what lies ahead of them.
However, there is a trend these days for schools to basically hire speakers that are controversial for the sake of controversy. I am a huge proponent of the first amendment, and I believe everyone should have the right of free speech, but I do not believe a college graduation ceremony is the appropriate forum. The students (in most cases) just paid thousands and thousands of dollars to attend a university to attain a degree. Who do these universities think they are to hire someone to speak and anger the students who should be proud to be graduating from their university?
The graduation podium should not be a place for someone to stand and give a totally unrelated tirade about his opinions on war and say nothing, nothing to or about the students graduating from the institution that hired him to speak inthe first place. It is a disgrace. It would be a disgrace no matter how you feel about the war - whether you are for or against it, neither opinion matters. This is not the opportunity for you to stand and give your opinion about anything. It is, however, your job to give an inspiring speech and one that is positive in nature.
In my own life I have experienced this. At my graduation, a woman was hired to speak who was a female Asian writer who had written some books about Vietnam and was reknowned in some small literary circles. She did have some inspiring thoughts on how to live your life and be a good person in this world of evil, but a lot of her speech had to do with her life in Vietnam and war and peace. This is all well and good except I graduated during peacetime when there were no major conflicts in the world. It was also well and good except for the fact that I was an engineering student and most of her speech was about literature and the liberal arts (things I did not and do not much have a great interest in.) So the question is how appropriate a speaker was she for me, or many of my commrades in the engineering school. Not much. I joked that I would have rather had Bill Cosby speak (he spoke that year at another school) as he made a very inspirational speech, more a plea to the students to make this a better world. That to me is a good speech, he had no motive, and was not trying to put his interest ahead of the students whom should be celebrated.
I do not know why this has made me so mad, but after hearing that speech today the Rockford College administration should put forth a formal apology to its student body and it should truly be ashamed of itself. Had I been graduating from that school this year a lot would have had to be done to stop me from jumping on that stage and physically removing the speaker in the interest of the student body. They did manage to cut off his mike twice, but the administration allowed him to go on. It truly is a sad story as it has made many of the graduating class mad or upset, and their graduation day should be the last day to bring about these feelings. They should feel proud for what they accomplished, excited for waht is ahead, but rather their college decided to bring them down.
Shame.
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