Are the Inmates Running the Asylum?

In the news currently is the controversy over small Goddard College in Vermont having invited Mumia Abu-Jamal to be a serve as a graduation speaker.  Those opposed to the invitation are on solid footing:  Abu-Jamal was convicted of the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 and is anything but repentant.

There has been a long-standing controversy surrounding Abu-Jamal’s trial and conviction, and while both have withstood numerous appeals, our purpose here is not to debate that aspect of the matter.  Rather, our attention is on the small note in the news articles about the Goddard invitation, which states that “The students decided on Abu-Jamal to deliver the address.”

If the students selected Abu-Jamal, what does that tell us about the quality of the education they have received and the values they have been taught?  Being open to opposing viewpoints is one thing, giving a platform to an unrepentant cop-killer is another.

This same note indicating that Abu-Jamal was selected by the students reminds us of the protests against Rutgers having chosen Condoleeza Rice as a commencement speaker not long ago.  Student protests at Rutgers resulted in Rice being replaced.  Rice’s crime?  Being associated with the administration of George W. Bush and it’s Iraq policy.

See we see in the Rutgers case an example of students being closed to opposing viewpoints, and we see in the Goddard case an example of students embracing a felon.  Neither reflects the mature thinking that colleges and universities are supposed to foster.