Faculty at Rutgers vote to cancel Condoleezza Rice’s commencement speech
Some members of Rutgers University voted to cancel plans for Condoleezza Rice to speak at the May’s commencement ceremony.
Professors at Rutgers-Newark voted to call on the administration to disinvite the former Secretary of State because of her role in the Iraq war.
Last month, professors at the larger Rutgers-New Brunswick campus voted in favor of an almost identical resolution.
“This is not good for Rutgers,” Rutgers-Newark English and American Studies Professor H. Bruce Franklin told The Star-Ledger on Friday. “What we’re doing is awarding an honorary degree and having a commencement speech from someone who is a war criminal.” […] Rice will receive a honorary doctoral degree from the university, as well as $35,000 for her commencement address.
Rutgers President Robert Barchi wrote a letter to the university’s community members announcing that Rice will still speak at the commencement. He says that the administration has “heard from high school students who have written to say that they would withdraw their Rutgers applications if we rescind — or fail to rescind — our invitation to her.”
Faculty at Rutgers-Camden, the smallest of the school’s three campuses, voted not to join their counterparts in protesting Rice’s speech.
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