Posted on 05/01/2010 11:33:14 AM PDT by rhema
CampusReform.org released a list this month revealing a strong liberal bias among undergraduate universities’ commencement speakers.
The data shows that for every four liberal commencement speakers this spring, there is one conservative speaker. The study looked at 160 universities. Liberal names on the speaking list include Vice President Al Gore, President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, Alec Baldwin, Nancy Pelosi, Sonia Sotomayor, Rachel Maddow, David Brooks and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“With the Obama administration being in power, obviously more high government officials are liberal,” CampusReform.org Communications Director Bonnie Kristian said. “Yet there are an abundance of conservative and libertarian members of government who could be speaking at the ceremonies who aren’t being asked by universities. Universities are simply not picking conservative or libertarian commencement speakers.”
Kristian said that her organization hopes to inform students and universities of this political imbalance.
“We hope these figures will bring attention and make students aware of this left-wing bias, and to encourage universities to represent both sides of the aisle and present a broader perspective,” she said.
Tulane College Democrats President Sam Richard said he was not surprised by the increase in liberal commencement speakers.
“College students are more liberal than many other demographics — 5 percent of Obama voters in 2008 were between the ages of 18 and 24” Richard said. “I think the universities are just trying to give students someone they want to hear from, someone they are excited about.”
Debbie Grant, vice president for university communications and marketing said that party affiliation plays no role in the commencement speaker selection process at Tulane.
“An individual’s political philosophy does not influence our invitation to be the keynote speaker at graduation,” she said. “The committee that plans commencement each year is drawn from the registrar’s office, admission office, the president’s office and the communications office. There is a working list of potential commencement speakers that has been compiled from suggestions to the committee from students, faculty, staff and alumni. When we review the list, we look to see if there is a connection to Tulane and/or New Orleans. Also, it helps if a member of the university community has a personal connection and can help us reach out to a potential speaker.”
Past Tulane commencement speakers include President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, Brian Williams, James Carville and Mary Matalin, and, most recently, Ellen DeGeneres. Anderson Cooper will speak at the 2010 commencement this May.
Yep, college students are excited to hear from liberal speakers. The liberals will tell the graduates to go out and change the world. They will tell them that what they have learned in four years at _____ University is only the beginning. They will tell the grads that the world needs liberal solutions to cure all of the ills of society. They will be told to put their youthful idealism into action, yadda, yadda, yadda. The speeches are predictable, and will be centered around applying liberal values to the problems of the world.
Alton Brown is giving the commencement speech at UGA this year next weekend, I can guarantee it won’t be about liberal values. I’ll bet it’s going to be very funny but real.
Uh-huh political philosophy doesn’t influence our decisions at all, how can these clowns say this stuff with a straight face.
In other news:studies reveal men like women with big tits.
Few in academe make mention of any conservative principles, on pain of losing tenure. Instead, “get them indoctrinated when they’re young” and impressionable is not only the way of getting grades to graduate, but also the only method possible to wind through terminal degree committees, grants, tenure and promotion.
A surprise in Minneapolis: liberal Augsburg College is having Tim Pawlenty give the commencement address. Lots of liberal weeping and gnashing of teeth about that choice.
Parents should really stop and think about a) where they send their kids and b) the specific teachers their kids will have.
My daughter’s commencement is next Saturday and the speaker is Former Oklahoma Governor George Night, a Democrat.
Boo! Hiss!
(OK, he was a very popular governor, so what? He’s a Dim.)
All reasons I never did a college graduation, BS or MS.
Some crap I simply didn’t need to hear, and the parchment could come by mail.
Too, they were not paying, and, post degree, I didn’t really need to hear their crap again.
Still, if you major in engineering, only the numbers work, and you get a lot less of the BS.
But you still have to take the liberal arts courses, and being on campus will expose you to the A holes of the world.
I found out that the speaker for the Virginia Tech Commencement this year is our new, conservative governor, Bob McDonnell! We feel fortunate and blessed.
The Communist are meeting their goals.
Ha ha! Love that they put David Brooks on the liberal list (where he belongs)!
Hey I was one of those Liberal arts grads.
Alec Baldwin? How appropriate. It only took him eighteen years to earn a college degree.
Is Alton a “C”????? I loved his “cooking” show...don’t like the CHALLENGE show so much....
Georgia Tech has yet another liberal - Brook Byers. He gave $6,900 to Obama in 2008.
“But you still have to take the liberal arts courses, and being on campus will expose you to the A holes of the world.”
...there’s some good news here though...at least in the English Dept...they’re slowly being put out of a job...only 4% of students major in English now...down from 8% when I was in school...the only real growth in the dept is in composition...soon lit professors will be selling pencils on street corners.
We all have our problems.
Most of us try not to sign up for them in advance, of course, but YMMV.
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