Graduation Speakers Bring Pomp, Controversy

Many Boston College students and faculty members offer admiring portraits of this year’s commencement speaker. As the highest-ranking woman of color ever in the U.S. government, they say, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is an important role model as well as a major figure in U.S. policy.

But as Rice prepares to deliver the address Monday and accept an honorary degree, other students and professors are outraged, saying Rice is an architect of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan who is at odds with “the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions.”

The conflict over Rice’s appearance has roiled this peaceful Jesuit institution, high on a hill in an affluent Boston suburb. One English professor was so upset that he resigned, and more than 200 other faculty members have signed a letter of opposition drafted by two theology professors. Students, for their part, are circulating dueling petitions -- one supporting Rice, the other assailing her.

In an editorial, the student newspaper strongly endorsed Rice, crowing that “it is a rare year when BC can land a speaker that trumps its Cambridge neighbor, not to mention practically every other university in the country.” (Journalist Jim Lehrer will address graduates at that Cambridge neighbor, Harvard.)

Yet scores of students say they will join dissenting faculty in wearing anti-Rice armbands at commencement and turning their backs when she receives her honorary law degree.

“Our goal isn’t to be disruptive, our goal is to send a message,” said Reena Parikh, a graduating senior who heads the school’s Women of Color Caucus. “For us to have come here and to have learned so much in four years and not show our dissent, for us, that would be a slap in the face.”

Boston College -- whose president replied with a firm “no” when asked by some faculty members to rescind the Rice invitation -- is not the only school this year to feature a commencement speaker closely allied with the Iraq war.

At New York’s New School, Sen. John McCain is to address graduates today. Like Rice, McCain is seen by university critics as a champion of the Iraq war. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey -- the New School’s president and, like McCain, a Vietnam veteran -- rebuffed campus requests to disinvite the Arizona Republican, calling McCain “one of the world’s most important leaders.”

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also closely identified with U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, will deliver the May 31 commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. No protests are expected. “As far as I know, everyone is very excited about the secretary coming,” academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said.

At BC, an air of civility -- reflective of a school that fosters social involvement and a spirit of inquiry -- has characterized the flap over Rice’s appearance.

Hundreds of students on this campus of 8,000 undergraduates paused from cramming for final exams to attend a Sunday afternoon forum about the Rice visit.

The opposition letter making the rounds among faculty focuses on “moral principle” and “humanistic values.” Most of those who object stress that they want to hear Rice speak but do not want her to receive an honorary degree.

“Let’s just start with the fact that she is being given a doctorate of laws, and this is a pretty lawless administration,” said Juliet B. Schor, chairwoman of BC’s sociology department. “She is a major architect of U.S. foreign policy, and that is hardly an activity worthy of honor if you look at what that policy is.”

The Rev. David Hollenbach, a professor of ethics and a co-author of the opposition letter, said: “The fact is, there are serious moral problems with the policies and orientation she is pursuing. I am not saying she is a bad person. We just don’t think it is appropriate to honor someone who does not represent Catholic values.”

BC spokesman Jack Dunn said anyone on campus could nominate a commencement speaker, with the final selection made by the school’s board of trustees.

Rice is not the most high-profile figure to address BC graduates. Five months before he was assassinated in 1963, President Kennedy took the podium; and in 1982, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush spoke at the commencement of his daughter Dorothy.

Dunn said honorary degrees had been bestowed on every commencement speaker in the school’s 130-year history. BC President William P. Leahy, a Jesuit priest, was not about to make an exception in Rice’s case, Dunn said.

“We would not have entertained that possibility,” he said. Rice, he noted, gives just one commencement speech a year. “She chose Boston College, and we think that speaks well of a university with a rich history of preparing its students for careers in public service.

“We understood there would be some protests over the choice because protest seems to follow the secretary of State’s office,” Dunn continued. “The president said he was aware that many on campus were opposed to the choice, but he thought it was an appropriate choice because we are honoring her as an individual, and there is much in her life story that is admirable and deserving of respect.”

Indeed, philosophy professor Paul McNellis, also a Jesuit, commended Rice’s “life of public service” as an example for students.

“I would like to see more of them in politics and government service,” he said. “Perhaps her presence among us will be an encouragement in that direction.”

Already, several faculty members observed, the Rice visit has generated healthy debate at a time when students and professors are often consumed with end-of-school-year endeavors.

And although the extent of the planned silent protest against Rice remains to be seen, student newspaper Editor in Chief Tom Wiedeman said, “One way or the other, it will be memorable.”