Posted on 05/03/2014 5:33:49 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
May 3, 2014 8:11 AM EXCLUSIVE: Rice Withdraws from Rutgers Commencement By NRO Staff
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is withdrawing from the Rutgers commencement ceremony.
Her invitation by the school’s board of governors had sparked protests from faculty and students, and now Rice has decided not to speak to avoid creating a distraction.
In a statement to be released this morning, Rice says,
Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families. Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time.
I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America’s belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a Professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as it’s former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way.
Good luck to the graduates and congratulations to the families, friends and loved ones who will gather to honor them.
Opposition to Rice had focused on her support for the Iraq war and Bush policies in the war on terror. Rutgers faculty at the New Brunswick campus approved a resolution calling for Rice to be disinvited, citing her role in the Bush administration’s alleged “effort to mislead the American people about the presence of weapons of mass destruction.”
Protesting students had occupied the office of the president the other day, with signs reading “No honors for war criminals” and “War criminals out.”
Rice’s withdrawal comes after protests of her invitation to speak at the University of Minnesota recently and her placement on the board of the file-sharing firm Dropbox. Other figures who run afoul of campus orthodoxy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Charles Murray, have been disinvited from speeches over the last few weeks.
In a statement when the controversy first erupted, Rutgers President Robert Barchi said, “We cannot protect free speech or academic freedom by denying others the right to an opposing view, or by excluding those with whom we may disagree. Free speech and academic freedom cannot be determined by any group. They cannot insist on consensus or popularity.”
Barchi had adopted a different tone this week: “I frankly wish from my point of view that this whole affair was not here right now because it’s distracting from what great things we’re doing as a university. … It does have us, for better or worse, right in the crosshairs right now.”
No longer.
Defund Big Education.
Rutgers is RACIST!!!!
These folks need someone who will lie to them to match their curriculum, Hillary Clinton please pick up the red phone.
I have mixed feelings on this (I worry somewhat about giving in to fascist speech suppression). In any case, Rice was very gracious about this whole thing and showed, as usual, a lot of class.
If the current student/faculty attitude is an example of the fruit of their labor, then I submit the great things the president thinks they are doing really aren't so great after all.
Guess that would have been a little too “diverse” for them. After all, she is a conservative [lite].
Not really racist, there are lots of black communists they can invite instead.
Why would any American who professes to support the First Amendment donate to such an institution? Rutgers diplomas have been devalued by these faculty and students, who do not appreciate academic freedom for any opinions contrary to those of the Left.
Defund the Left, and certainly do not send your children to such narrow-minded institutions.
Those kids are $120,000 in debt..
and there still isn't enough " Preperation H " for all the damage they will do !!
Look at what a Harvard Grad did to the United States.. ?
without even verifying that he attended .... /sarc
Class act on her part. Barbarianism, hooliganism, thuggism on their part.
Figures, since Ms Rice has a list of real accomplishments, whilst that faculty is there because...what else could they do?
STEM faculty excepted, of course.
Rutgers is Ivy League...not
What a shame. So sad
The Left hears things that only mongrels can hear.
Soon to be Big Ten...
From the article: “Barchi had adopted a different tone this week: “I frankly wish from my point of view that this whole affair was not here right now because it’s distracting from what great things we’re doing as a university. … It does have us, for better or worse, right in the crosshairs right now.” “
And, in the crosshairs is precisely where Barchi put the institution by not providing the leadership needed in this incident.
The graciousness with which Rice extricated herself from this idiotic affair speaks volumes about her character.
The spineless response to student extortion speaks volumes about Barchi’s.
Rutgers needs to pay a $2.5 million dollar fine, and be forced to sell their university.
And what "great things" are that? Teaching your students how to be intolerant racists? Afraid to hear the thoughts of an educated and empowered black person?
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