Boston College Prof. Quits over Rice Speech

Boston Globe ^ | 05/12/06 | Steve Almond

[raccoonradio]

An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College.

I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College.

I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation.

Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive.

But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar.

She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.

[fish hawk]

If I were a liberal and this guy was a Republican, I would call him a "Racist". (and get away with it)

[smalltownslick]

"Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university..."

This is interesting - which is it, humanistic values or Catholic values?

[smalltownslick]

"Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university..."

This is interesting - which is it, humanistic values or Catholic values?

[Antoninus]

Mom is coming into town for my graduation. She'll be spending the morning at the IHOP on Soldier's Field Road. Now I need to decide where I'll be. AMY O'MEARA, Newton

Dear Amy. Cry me a river, babe. When I graduated from BC in 1993, we had Queen Noor of Jordan as our commencement speaker--and a more vapid, self-serving, socialist-laden heap of platitudinous poppycock I have never heard.

I don't agree with Condi Rice on every issue. But she is 100x the woman anyone currently on the faculty at BC ever could be. You should be counting your blessings rather than wondering if you should be hanging out with your moon-bat mom at IHOP.

[Antoninus]

www.stevenalmond.com

This guy is a major, major tool. How the heck did he ever get any kind of teaching position at BC is what I want to know. Observe:

The Idea of Michael Jackson's D!ck

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

This is a good start!!!!

But the liar is only an adjunct prof--a pretty cheap protest on his part.

[Antoninus]

"...inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive."

Oh yeah, Steve? I wonder what St. Ignatius would have to say about some of your novels there, Stevie-boy? The fact that a complete and total degenerate profligate like this moron is allowed anywhere near a Catholic instution is a SCANDAL.

[veronica]

LOL...

[crashthe24]

Nice to see he listens to Republicans when they speak. Apparently, he wasn't listening when the members of his favorite socialist party in Washington were making the same case against Iraq but were to afraid to take care of it.

I heard there are a few openings for thoughtful speakers like Steve in Cuba.
See ya!

[Claud]

"...inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive."

LOL...you know, like when the Popes stood up for pornography during the iconoclast controversy...uh, no...hang on...uhh...when the Jesuits founded the reductions for lesbian gay and transgendered Indians in Paraguay....uh, no wait that didn't happen either.

[Enchante]

The sad thing is that this pitiful butt-head was ever paid anything to teach anyone at a US college. Apparently he was a part-time "creative writing" teacher..... which can (often) mean even less logic, rigor, and intellectual content than most of the present-day humanities and social sciences. I spent too much time in graduate school and around campuses (in my wasted youth), and some of the most vapid pseudo-intellectuals I've ever met were creative writing teachers, surpassed only by pathetic ESL ("English as a Second Language") teachers. Something about a subject having no standards at all and being widely known as sitting at the bottom of the academic totem pole makes writing or ESL attractive these bozos.

[lawgirl]

well, steve, don't let the door hit your @ss on the way out.

[mjolnir]

It just goes to show that, deep down, he knows that leftists, not conservatives, are the ones who tear down election yard signs, vandalize homes, throw pies at speakers and otherwise physically attack those they disagree with.

Like most American radicals, he counts on the civilized nature of our republic while trying to destroy it.

[TASMANIANRED]

One down, thousands to go.

[ThomasThomas]

Has given a speech in the House or Senate yet?

[section9]

Where the f*%# do I begin with these a$$-clowns.

What a bunch of pretentious, pompous Ronalds. It was the lone conservative on the Huff Puff Post who said that Pacifists are Parisites; that a society made up of pacifists would be shortly overrun by outside forces, and that pacifists exist at the sufferance of those who take up arms to defend the larger society. BC apparently is packed with plenty of these. Too bad, Eagles-no Doug Flutie!

Imagine a gaggle of self-righteious lapsed Catholics, whose Cafeteria Catholocism allows them to cherry-pick John Paul the Great's Greatest Hits to use against the notion of giving Condi an honorary degree. Yet two years earlier, they invited someone from NARAL and said not a word. I will guarantee you that these same lapsed Catholics cared not a whit about the tens of thousands of Iraqis who died under Saddam.

Hypocritical swine, the lot of them! Condi will go to BC and accept the honorary degree, probably in the face of some churlish conduct, with her characteristic grace and character.

As for Almond; who cares? As Hyman Roth said to Michael about Frankie Pantangela, "He's small potatoes."

As for Condi?

Well.....we're not to worried about her.....

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[beckaz]

Of course he's untenured. It would be too good to be true were he one of the tenured freaks.

Gotta love the part about Rice going against catholic and Jesuit tradition (though it is mostly the 100 signatories of the petition).

Wanna guess how many, out of 100, would have objected to inviting Chief Mass Justice Margaret Marshall, of gay marriage fame? My money is on ZERO.

[Liberty Valance]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!

[raccoonradio]

From the Sat. Boston Herald, editorial page:

---

An open letter to Steve Almond, erstwhile adjunct professor of English at Boston College:

Dear Steve,

Yesterday we were amused beyond words to see your open letter to BC President William Leahy on the oped page of the Boston Globe in which you dramatically resigned your post to protest the upcoming commencement address of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (We do hope you are planning to get those final grades in, however.)

If there were a Pulitzer Prize for pomposity, we would be honored to submit your name in nomination.

Somehow we think the secretary will get over the slurs to her reputation, although we are grateful you weren’t a teacher of political science or history. That would truly give us pause about the hiring process at an otherwise splendid institution. We’re just assuming here that your specialty must be fiction, and your grasp on international relations, therefore, sketchy at best.

Your grandstanding gesture would merit little more than a don’t-let-the-screendoor-hit-you-in-the-backside, were it not for the final bit of advice addressed to those “impressionable seniors” as you called them (which begs the question of what they have spent four years doing). You urged them to exercise their “First Amendment rights at her [Rice’s] speech,” whatever that means.

The advice of any good, dedicated teacher would be to listen, to ponder, to open your mind and to draw your own conclusions. And, sad to say, Steve, on that score you fail the test.

[BJungNan]

Don't let the door hit in the butt on your way out Prof. See ya. Have fun with your CNN interviews and 15 minutes of fame.