Daniel Weintraub: Schwarzenegger goes home again, to rude welcome [Santa Monica College graduation]

www.sacbee.com ^ | June 16, 2005 | Daniel Weintraub

[RonDog]

But I'm still upset that the school did nothing to shut down this roguish behavior.

It might be interesting if someone did a FOLLOW-UP article on the left's accomplices within the college staff.

I can live with a little harmless tweaking of a commencement speaker...

...and I can even understand the (misguided) "turn your backs" silent protest.

But there is NO EXCUSE for not allowing Arnold's words to be heard.

Inquiring minds want to know:

1 - If tickets to graduation were only available to graduating students...
...and if most of the disruptors were NON-students...
...and if most of the graduates did NOT support the booing...
...how did so many disruptors get tickets?

There ought to be some personnel changes in the "ticket distribution" staff.

2 - Why was the sound system so inadequate that the volume could not have been turned up -- to compensate for the disruptors?

Who had access to the sound equipment?

[RonDog]

I can live with a little harmless tweaking of a commencement speaker...

See, for example, from:

Wa State Univ Graduation prank -
"Count Again" on caps while ~governor~ Gregoire speaks
http://gddliveout.org ^ | http://gddliveout.org
Posted on 05/09/2005 12:02:27 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog

Explanation copied from the source:

So as most of you know its Graduation Weekend here in Pullman. My 8:00AM ceremony went off without a hitch, but Ahoyo's graduation was another thing. It must be known that "Governor" Gregoire was the commencement speaker for the College of Business graduation.

The Accounting department is part of this college, this will play a key role in this story.

Well the commencement started like normal with the respective colleges walking in single file. One may have noticed the Accounting department had Accounting spelled out one letter at a time on their mortarboards. Well as soon as "Governor" Gregoire took the stage they quickly changed one of the c's to an a and shuffled around their hats.

The end result was the phrase "Count Again" spelled out on their mortarboards. FUNNIEST [edit~hair] EVER! Pictures of this momentus occasion are attached.

For those of you who don't know about the situation here in Washington State and the governor's race here is a little history. In 2004 the race was recounted three times, with Dino Rossi (R) winning the first two recounts and "Governor" Gregoire (D) winning the third and final recount. Now a little county court in Chelan County Washington must decide if the race was invalid. This has been going on since the election in November. The litigation is set to start very soon and I'm sorry I don't have an exact date. For more information contact ReVoteWa.com

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[AmishDude]

So that's the color brown shirts are today...

[goldstategop]

Its funny to see the ANSWER Commies complaining California isn't socialist enough!

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[DLfromthedesert]

You, the taxpayers who support this college should DEMAND they answer these well thought out questions. Who is the administrator and what, if anything, did he have to say about it?

[CyberAnt]

And .. as far as I'm concerned .. this is the responsibility of the college. Why doesn't the president of the college TELL THESE CHILDREN - BEING RUDE AND INSULTING A GUEST SPEAKER IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. They need to learn that you can have your political view - but use it in political rallys.

I'm outraged that my tax dollars are paying for this college to exist - and the leaders of this college allow such a blatantly RUDE DISPLAY. Disgusting.

[RonDog]

See also, from www.whittierdailynews.com:

Graduation protest overstepped bounds

THE protesters who disrupted the graduation ceremonies at Santa Monica College on Tuesday had every right to voice their displeasure with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was delivering the commencement speech.

But that doesn't mean it was morally right to ruin the special day of 600 graduates. In their zeal to humiliate the governor by shouting down his every word during the speech, protesters effectively disrespected the entire graduating class of the community college.

Schwarzenegger, an alum of the college, was speaking not about the political policies that have his detractors steaming. He was speaking - or trying to - about his experience as a student 30 years ago, a story that would no doubt have been meaningful to a good many of the college's students who also are immigrants.

This was no doubt a big day for the students who were receiving two-year degrees. It was a shame that what should have been a memorable and emotional day turned into a political spectacle that overstepped the boundaries of civil discourse.

[RonDog]

The disruption was primarily from OFF-CAMPUS radicals, NOT from students.

From the Associated Press:

Governor dismisses protest at Santa Monica college
- By The Associated Press
Thursday, June 16, 2005

(06-16) 18:58 PDT SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding publicly for the first time to the protesters who heckled him at a commencement speech, said he believes most students were attentive and appreciated his words.

Schwarzenegger dismissed the jeers and catcalls he endured during his speech Tuesday to about 600 graduates at Santa Monica College, telling Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that the protesters were inspired by unions who oppose his November special election.

"It was very clear that there was a difference between the students who very much appreciated my speech, and they were sitting there and giving me a standing ovation, and then 100 people in the background, all the way up to the right of the bleachers. They were organized by the public employees' union," Schwarzenegger said Thursday on O'Reilly's show.

"So these were all union people that were organizing this demonstration," he said. "It is not the ordinary people out there. It was not the students that were protesting. The students had great respect and they enjoyed my speech."

[CyberAnt]

Well .. even so .. why didn't the college KEEP THEM OUT - ISN'T IT PRIVATE PROPERTY OF THE STATE ..??

[Milligan]

What a bunch spoiled malcontents...and rude! They could just stand up with their signs and be silent about it. Maybe someone in the audience wanted to hear Arnold's speech.

Is Arnold cutting funding to community colleges? How much does it cost to go to a state run junior college? What do the students and teachers want? A free ride? My daughter will be going to a community college this year. It will cost us $6,500 a year..not bad...it's better than paying $20,000 in a private college and that's not including books.

[MensRightsActivist]

Here is a link to back issues of the liberal school paper, The Corsair. Just the front page will give you a real flavor of what this liberal place is like.

Here's the SMC President, who is a very sharp guy, but SMC students have no respect for him or anyone in authority as this story shows. Can you say, "Spoiled, prima donna, westside yuppies, or in this case yuppie puppies?" The President before Dr. Donner was there eight years and she left in January. Very few (liberal or conservative) had anything good to say about her.

[DLfromthedesert]

Thank you for the links. I tried to read one of the pieces about the graduation, but the spelling and grammar were so bad it was unreadable, aside from the obvious venom for the governor.