A vocal group consisting of about half of the faculty and some students at Furman University attacked the university’s decision to invite President Bush to deliver a May 31 commencement address. However, a much larger student-led group supports Bush’s visit.
The faculty wrote a “Petition of Opposition” signed by 222 people. University officials posted the objection letter on the college’s official website here. According to Furman University Director of Media Relations Vince Moore, the petition is signed by half of Furman’s full-time faculty and some students. He added that faculty spouses, alumni, and staff acted as co-signers as well.
Campus club Conservative Students for A Better Tomorrow, a student group in friendly cooperation with the Leadership Institute, in Arlington, Virginia, criticized the faculty’s and university’s actions in a “Support Our Seniors” letter. Here is the student group's response.
The students collected nearly 400 signatures from the Furman community, over 260 of whom are students. The group will request that administrators post their view alongside that of the Bush opponents. The senior class student leadership voted unanimously to invite the President to address the class of 2008.
Do you think the faculty should have said anything? Post your comments below.
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Hawaii
14 years ago
A slight correction -- about half the full-time faculty at Furman signed the letter requesting absence from commencement ceremonies. Of course adjunct (part-time) faculty might have felt more vulnerable and refrained from signing.
ReplyDeleteSee http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/shotgun-commencement-speech/