[Peace-discuss] How we've instructed the young

[C. G. Estabrook]

Story printed on: May 20,2003

LOCAL NEWS: Rockford

Speaker disrupts RC graduation [sic!]

A New York Times reporter delivers an antiwar speech that offended many.

By CARRIE WATTERS, Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was booed off the stage
Saturday at Rockford College's graduation because he gave an antiwar
speech.

Two days later, graduates and family members, envisioning a "go out and
make your mark" send-off, are still reeling.

Guests wanting to hear the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter are
equally appalled.

And College President Paul Pribbenow is rethinking the wisdom of such
controversial topics at future commencements. This is Pribbenow's first
graduation.

Hedges began his abbreviated 18-minute speech comparing United States'
policy in Iraq to piranhas and a tyranny over the weak. His microphone was
unplugged within three minutes.

Voices of protest and the sound of foghorns grew.

Some graduates and audience members turned their backs to the speaker in
silent protest. Others rushed up the aisle to vocally protest the remarks,
and one student tossed his cap and gown to the stage before leaving.

Mary O'Neill of Capron, who earned a degree in elementary education, sat
in her black cap and gown listening. She was stunned.

She turned to Pribbenow and asked him why he was letting the speech
continue. He said it was freedom of speech. Pribbenow later said when
people stop listening to ideas, even controversial ones, it is the death
of institutions like 157-year-old Rockford College.

In tears, O'Neill left the ceremony.

Her husband, Kevin, sat in the audience with their daughter and was as
indignant as his wife.

"This is a ceremony. ... The day belongs to the students. It doesn't
belong to a political view," he said.

Hedges, a war correspondent, criticized military heroic ideals that grow
during war. The fervor sacrifices individual thought for temporarily
belonging to something larger, he said.

Hedges sympathized with U.S. soldiers. He characterized them as boys from
places such as Mississippi and Arkansas who joined the military because
there were no job opportunities.

"War in the end is always about betrayal. Betrayal of the young by the
old, of soldiers by politicians and idealists by cynics," Hedges said in
lecture fashion as jeers and "God Bless Americas" could be heard in the
background.

After his microphone was again unplugged, Pribbenow told Hedges to wrap it
up.

Elinor Radlund of Rockford read Hedges' book on war and was horrified at
what she said was the audience's rude behavior. She was indignant she
couldn't hear the speaker.

"They were not behaving as people in an academic setting, where you're
supposed to be open to a great many ideas," Radlund said.

Pribbenow said Rockford College takes no political stance, but the job is
to challenge students. He reminded audience members of the liberal arts
college's commitment to listening to other viewpoints.

It didn't happen.

Spontaneous reaction led 66-year-old Gerald Kehoe of rural Boone County
down the aisle in his first time to protest anything. He was hurt to hear
a verbal attack on the country. He attended Saturday's commencement to
watch his daughter graduate, the fourth from Rockford College.

Rockford College political science professor Bob Evans said it's a
reminder of the "raw edges of emotion" on the issue.

A student who rushed the stage could face reprimand although he still
received his diploma.

"It's important to go on the record that it's inappropriate behavior,"
Pribbenow said.

Contact: cwatters at registerstartower.com; 815-987-1242

FORUM: Was a New York Times reporter wrong to deliver an antiwar speech at
Rockford College's graduation? Click Here to discuss it. [sic]

  ==============================================================
  Carl Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466
  <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ===============================================================