Snooki beats Condi. At least at Rutgers.
That’s the message sent by the successful drive by some students and professors to stop Condoleezza Rice from delivering this year’s commencement address.
At one point, demonstrators occupied a building. Others carried signs accusing the former secretary of state of being a war criminal. Though Rutgers said it was not rescinding its invitation, Rice opted out. She put it this way in her statement:
“As a Professor for 30 years at Stanford University and as former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way.”
In his own statement, President Robert Barchi suggested now “is the time to focus on our commencement.” We disagree. Barchi presides over New Jersey’s premier state university, which has just bullied a speaker into declining an invitation. Instead of urging folks to move on, he ought to be expressing his embarrassment this disgrace could happen on his campus.
What makes it all the more shameful is that, even apart from government, Condi Rice’s qualifications exceed any of her critics’. This is a woman who grew up in the Jim Crow South, is a concert pianist, speaks fluent Russian and is now associated with one of America’s premier universities.
By contrast, Rutgers is the university that just three years ago paid “Jersey Shore” star Snooki $32,000 to give a speech.
So it’s a pity the school has now replaced Rice with former Gov. Tom Kean. Plainly for Rutgers, Snooki would have been the more appropriate choice.