The last time I graduated from an institution of higher learning I didn’t. I don’t mean I didn’t get the degree. But I didn’t go to graduation. I had planned to attend. My wife had planned to attend. My mother had planned to attend.
But then graduation was cancelled.
Oh, there was a ceremony. But not a real graduation. Instead, it was morphed into a protest of the Vietnam war.
This followed weeks of disruption by demonstrators against that war. Disruption that included entry into and defacement of the walls of the mathematics building. And many other buildings on campus.
Now, that war was a terrible mistake that killed so many young people before ending in a defeat whose aftermath didn’t yield the disastrous domino tumble predicted by the war mongers.
I am in favor of college students protesting vigorously for whatever cause they feel merits it, but I’m not in favor of violence or destruction.
But the correctness of the protests is not pertinent to my current screed.
By the university caving by altering the emphasis of the graduation, it diminished the years of study of those who worked so hard to earn their degrees. And it denied the pleasure the degree recipients’ loved ones would have received and the validation of all the support they had provided.
These memories have been triggered by what is now transpiring on many college campuses.
As far as I can tell, the protests have been mostly nonviolent and pushing for protection and feeding of those in Gaza. That’s a position that could and is filling column after column and hour after hour of news coverage. I find what is happening in Gaza reprehensible. I also find the October attack by Hamas reprehensible. I applaud those demonstrating on both sides. I do not applaud violence or destruction or verbal or physical attacks on those who disagree. It seems to me that any hateful word or action is a direct violation of the principles the protestors are espousing. How can someone demanding humane treatment for some individuals simultaneously want to deny it to other individuals?
It's scary now for the protestors who are subject to arrest, suspension, or even outright expulsion from school. They don’t need a Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives entering campus and calling for a military response. Was Speaker Johnson motivated by the 1970 sending of the national guard to Kent State? That didn’t work out too well.
There is so much that can and should be said about what is going on now. But I want to return to the less newsworthy point very few are considering. Those who want their university to give them an education and then recognition when that education is completed.
Just as in 1970, that is being threatened. Some institutions have cancelled classes. Others have offered them online. I heard of one university, and I suspect there are others, that is considering not holding graduation.
I don’t know how to simultaneously solve the problems of keeping students (including protestors) safe, continuing to educate all that want it, and giving them the ending ceremony they have earned and represents a tangible recognition of accomplishment.
I would not want to be a college administrator. But then I never did. But they clamored for the job and get well paid for their efforts. I expect them to solve the problems that arise.
And in doing so not sacrifice the reason for the institutions they lead.
But then graduation was cancelled.
Oh, there was a ceremony. But not a real graduation. Instead, it was morphed into a protest of the Vietnam war.
This followed weeks of disruption by demonstrators against that war. Disruption that included entry into and defacement of the walls of the mathematics building. And many other buildings on campus.
Now, that war was a terrible mistake that killed so many young people before ending in a defeat whose aftermath didn’t yield the disastrous domino tumble predicted by the war mongers.
I am in favor of college students protesting vigorously for whatever cause they feel merits it, but I’m not in favor of violence or destruction.
But the correctness of the protests is not pertinent to my current screed.
By the university caving by altering the emphasis of the graduation, it diminished the years of study of those who worked so hard to earn their degrees. And it denied the pleasure the degree recipients’ loved ones would have received and the validation of all the support they had provided.
These memories have been triggered by what is now transpiring on many college campuses.
As far as I can tell, the protests have been mostly nonviolent and pushing for protection and feeding of those in Gaza. That’s a position that could and is filling column after column and hour after hour of news coverage. I find what is happening in Gaza reprehensible. I also find the October attack by Hamas reprehensible. I applaud those demonstrating on both sides. I do not applaud violence or destruction or verbal or physical attacks on those who disagree. It seems to me that any hateful word or action is a direct violation of the principles the protestors are espousing. How can someone demanding humane treatment for some individuals simultaneously want to deny it to other individuals?
It's scary now for the protestors who are subject to arrest, suspension, or even outright expulsion from school. They don’t need a Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives entering campus and calling for a military response. Was Speaker Johnson motivated by the 1970 sending of the national guard to Kent State? That didn’t work out too well.
There is so much that can and should be said about what is going on now. But I want to return to the less newsworthy point very few are considering. Those who want their university to give them an education and then recognition when that education is completed.
Just as in 1970, that is being threatened. Some institutions have cancelled classes. Others have offered them online. I heard of one university, and I suspect there are others, that is considering not holding graduation.
I don’t know how to simultaneously solve the problems of keeping students (including protestors) safe, continuing to educate all that want it, and giving them the ending ceremony they have earned and represents a tangible recognition of accomplishment.
I would not want to be a college administrator. But then I never did. But they clamored for the job and get well paid for their efforts. I expect them to solve the problems that arise.
And in doing so not sacrifice the reason for the institutions they lead.
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