First Lady vs. Wellesley: Good Debate

A Talmudic expositor once observed, “I have spent my life among the sages, and from them I have learned that nothing is to be preferred to silence.” Good advice, but here we go anyway.

Students of Wellesley College in Massachusetts voted to invite Barbara Bush to deliver the commencement address.

Mrs. Bush was selected, according to the senior class president, because “she’s a very interesting and successful lady.”

But 150 other students disagreed. In a letter of protest, they argued that the First Lady “has gained recognition through the achievements of her husband.” Wellesley, they wrote, “teaches that we will be rewarded on the basis of our own merit, not on that of a spouse.”

The protesters did not demand that Mrs. Bush not speak. So Nan Keohane, Wellesley’s president, called their disagreement a useful debate on feminism’s meaning. She summarized the issue this way: Must women define themselves through careers or can they also seek a “multifacted life with many kinds of rewards?” That’s the right question, and a pretty good answer--all in one.

For her part, Mrs. Bush said she thought the protesters “were very reasonable,” but that “I don’t think they understand where I’m coming from. I chose to live the life I’ve lived.”

If young Wellesley students are puzzled by her choice, it may be because they’re uncertain about the nature of choice itself. But they sure are asking the right questions right now.