<p>I just watched the commencement speech for this year’s graduation at my son’s college. In it, Wesley Clark gave the usual, “You are the beginning of a great phase in your life; go do great things for the world. … etc.” But the middle third of his talk could have been (and probably was) taken directly from his stump speech. In it, he attacked the Bush administration in a tone as typically found in such campaign speeches. (Ironically, one of the things he criticized them for was for creating a political divide. Hmmm…I guess he didn’t give much critical thought to his own speech.) </p>
<p>Given that Cornell in the last three years had James Carville, Bill Clinton and now Wesley Clark, I have resigned myself that when my son graduates in two years that the speaker will be a Democrat. The question that I have is, how common is it for speakers to be so political for such occassions? Isn’t it extraordinarily tacky to use an occasion like that to give a political speech? I would think that no matter if you are liberal or conservative, that you would expect a graduation speech to be non-political. I hope that what Clark gave was the exception and not the rule.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about this topic. But just the other day I was reading on Powerline that an executive from Pepsi gave a very political commenecement speech referencing the United States as the “giving the rest of the world the middle finger”. I believe it is commonplace for a political figure, when given the opportunity to speak at a graduation, spend at least part of the time talking on a political topic. I am conservative as well, and don’t want to my graduation to be ruined by a blatantly liberal speaker, which at nearly all top colleges in America, is sure to happen. This is why I believe it is wrong to have speakers of any strong political influence, because even if the speech is apolitical, nearly half the student body will be aggitated either way, be it Jesse Jackson or Rush Limbaugh. Thanks for the post.</p>
<p>There is no better place for a political speech than at a college or university graduation. Where it is inappropriate is when the politician surrounds him or herself with school children and uses them as props for a campaign. Using children for photo ops is cheap.</p>
<p>I was prepared for anything at Penn’s graduation – Kofi Annan was the commencement speaker. Last year’s speaker was Bono, and he was pretty political, I heard.</p>
<p>Mr. Annan’s speech was dry. My other son, who attended with me, said it was the same speech the tour guide gave when he toured the UN a couple years ago. “This is what the UN does…” It contained absolutely no charge to the graduates at all that I picked up on. I really didn’t want a “Death to the US” speech, or a defense of “Oil for Food.” But I would have liked to hear something a bit more personal. </p>
<p>I liked his beginning, though. He started off with something like, “I know that you’re all sitting out there wondering what I could possibly say…” and we’re all waiting for the inevitable defense or explanation … and he continues, “that could possibly … live up to Bono last year.”</p>
<p>the speaker at Reed was Ok, but Colin Diver the president was hilarious.
I especially liked when he told the graduates that he felt sorry for them and that no one was going to be impressed. the text doesn’t do it justice- his timing was great. I am mostly just feeling sorry for you. Yes, truly. I am feeling sorry, because I know what you are facing. You are about to go out into a world which you will find alien and strange. It is a world that will not understand you. No one will be impressed at how many term papers you wrote last night. No one will care about your latest interpretation of some obscure Coptic text. People will walk away from you when you try to strike up a conversation at a bar about the sex life of salamanders.</p>
<p>Use it as a learning experience. If you had a Sen. First as the commencement speaker, there would be a lot of other people unhappy. I always thought that great institutions promoted differences inorder to find the middle.</p>
I think part of FF’s point was the lack of diverse opinion. So far, no one’s come up with speakers that demonstrate otherwise. Williams is having two commencement speakers this year, and still fails to achieve any kind of balance–Thomas Friedman and Julian Bond. Friedman could be interesting, but Bond appears to have gone insane with Bush hatred over the last few years, and I would bet the farm that he’s incapable of delivering anything other than a rant. Glad it’s not my daughter’s year.</p>
<p>A quick skimming of the list turned up Democrat politicians Paul Sarbanes, Nancy Pelosi, and Richard Gephardt. Didn’t see any Republicans, but it was just a quick look.</p>
<p>My point was not so much the balance or imbalance between Republicans and Democratic speakers; rather, it was the inclusion of highly charged, partisan rhetoric included in the speech. If a politician has nothing more interesting or inciteful to say as part of a graduation speech than what he or she has already said countless times in his “attack mode”, then it seems to me that he has failed as a graduation speaker. I’m hoping that Clark, being rather inexperienced in the world of politics, just made a rookie error in terms of not knowing when to turn it off. While I didn’t hear Bill Clinton’s speech at Cornell a year ago, I suspect that he had the good sense to avoid political hate speech. </p>
<p>I was looking forward to my son’s graduation day. I feel that it should be a day that unites rather than divides. I hope that it doesn’t become a day where half the audience isn’t made to feel uncomfortable by being an unwilling participant of a campaign appearance.</p>
<p>I agree with you Ff
I think you can be inspirational and energetic without being dogmatic
I really like Reeds tradition of having alums as speakers because you still get a diverse group of people but they all have shared the common experience of being at Reed where some bits of the curriculum change very slowly if at all ( like Hum110)
They also don’t tend to get so many politicians but people that you might not have heard of unless you are in their field
( perhaps saves on speaking fees too ;)</p>
<p>This speech is coming from a man who won’t let anyone other than Republicans into his town hall meetings. Politics is everywhere and most appropriate for college campuses. When I was in college I went to hear as many speakers as I could conservative, moderate and liberal. A provocative speech doesn’t have to gain agreement, it just needs to provoke thought…like good art.</p>
<p>FundingFather - I do agree with you that commencement speakers should avoid political rhetoric. While many of them are famous because of their affiliation with political causes, they should not be using the opportunity (and your tuition money) to get up on the soap box. Most liberals would not want to listen to someone talking about how God is the saviour; likewise, conservatives don’t want to hear about how Bush is evil and really should not have won either election. </p>
<p>I suggest that you write to Cornell and express your concerns. Put it in very politically-neutral language, or use other examples (i.e. “it would be inappropriate to have a speaker discuss how we should all convert to Methodism; likewise, it is inappropriate for the commencement speakers to rant about the Bush administration.”). Then, ask that the people who organize commencement require that speakers not use the opportunity to pull out the soap box, for whatever cause of the day (religion, politics, abortion rights, right to life, whatever). There can be nothing more inappropriate to mark the education, learning, and critical thinking of those students than to have them listen to unsubstantiated rhetoric.</p>