Posted on 03/15/2010 3:51:31 PM PDT by Justaham
INDIANAPOLIS — When John Roberts' niece graduates in May from Butler University this May, the Supreme Court chief justice may attend as a relative — but he has been deemed too controversial to take the stage as commencement speaker.
University faculty members scuttled a student-led drive to invite Roberts to speak at the May 8 ceremony, a decision that has disappointed the students and some conservatives on the Indianapolis campus.
"We try to steer clear of political divides if possible," Butler Faculty Senate President Jeanne VanTyle told the Indianapolis Star.
VanTyle says the school has made only two exceptions to its no-politicians rule in three decades: once for Democrat Evan Bayh when he was governor and last year for Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.
"Last year, I watched half of the audience cheer and half of the audience frown," VanTyle told the Indianapolis Star. "That's not what someone's commencement ought to be." But members of the class of 2010 apparently don't agree and began working toward nominating Roberts at the start of the school year.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It's not far from me. My Dad went there back in the early 50's. I know he would have loved to have seen CJ Roberts speak there.
Welcome to the USSA, comrade.
There are wonderful opportunities to cut the federal budget and the deficit simply by examining the various federal fundings and grants that are provided by taxpayers (via our distinguished Members of Congress) to our illustrious institutions of higher learning.
Now I hope they lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is “too politically dividing” to allow to speak???
Oh, but I guess it would be Ok to have Obama or Gore, right?
Maybe Susan Sarandon is available.
Maybe they should have Simon Cowell speak at Butler. He’s not only impartial, but his brutal honestly will give them the real view of what they expect when they get out of college.
I think the age of personally speaking at universities has been over for a while—however, there is a very good replacement idea.
That is, to ask the guest speaker to give a “personalized” speech just for that event, which will be recorded on DVD and a copy given to each graduate. This has all sorts of advantages.
First of all, they can hear everything the speaker has to say, which is always a problem at live speeches. Second, it is a memento of what they had to say, so will not be full of empty homilies, but can actually be profound and intelligent.
It will be the speaker’s chance to say something that will be remembered and even footnoted in the future. And it will likewise bypass the media, because it may or may not be copyrighted by the university, with limited rights for rebroadcast and editing, etc., so they cannot hack it up into out of context sound bites.
The DVD can also contain a grand collection of “extras”, such as the written text of the speech, a biographic sketch of the speaker, a video tour of the university, even video of the commencement. On the downside, the university president would want to blather, and they would invariably throw in an alumni fund raising pitch.
Importantly, there is no reason to have just one celebrity commencement speaker. There might be half a dozen, and different DVDs that students could choose from. So speakers could be controversial as all get out, and students would “vote” on them with their selections.
That was in the People’s Republic of Maryland.
Correct. Thirty years ago it was no big deal to wave a confederate flag at a Molly Hatchet concert.
Now suddenly the entire decade of the 50's - Ward Cleaver, Daniel Boone hats, Sandra Dee & all - are synonymous with Jim Crow racism.
In his place, they will invite a communist Lesbian devil worshiper who believes that children should be initiated into sexual activity with adults when they are in kindergarten. If the children object, then they could be aborted post-partem, provided that this occurred before their 7th birthday.
But surely, Jack Squat is not huh, Butler?
Partisan Idiots.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I don’t want to hear the earth is round or it circles the sun—not vice versa. I simply do not want to be exposed to any fact that disputes my juvenilly conceived Marxist template. Moreover, people who disagree with me should not be allowed to speak—or worse. So there!!!!! (stamping feet in a temper tantrum).
But(thead)ler University?
I confess: i heard it used by Michael Savage.
Guilty.
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