[Peace-discuss] Readings from Rockford

[C. G. Estabrook]

Story printed on: May 21,2003

LOCAL NEWS: Rockford

Democracy, civility debated at college

 A reporter says watching reaction to his speech was 'heartbreaking.'

By CARRIE WATTERS, Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - The Rockford College family debated Tuesday what went wrong at
its spring graduation ceremony that featured New York Times reporter and
antiwar advocate Chris Hedges.

When do people listen to ideas, and when do they think critically and
disagree? When do people sit respectfully, and is there a time for
civility to be lost? These and more questions were discussed during a
meeting Tuesday on the campus, the alma mater of social activist Jane
Addams.

Students, faculty and staff didn't reach a consensus. And it's unlikely
much of the public will either.

College President Paul Pribbenow maintained that students should be
challenged by commencement speakers.

"Commencement is one of the last moments you have with students,"
Pribbenow said. "I want commencement to be more than a pop speech."

Hedges was the keynote speaker for Saturday's graduation of more than 400
students, but he found an unreceptive audience to a speech peppered with
harsh criticism of the United States' policy in Iraq.

Hedges' microphone was twice unplugged. Some guests shouted for him to
leave, and others chanted patriotic slogans. A few tried to rush the
podium, and at least one graduate tossed his cap and gown to the stage
before leaving.

Hedges' oration was trimmed to 18 minutes as the ceremony threatened to
become out of control. The 20-year war correspondent said Tuesday he was
disturbed by the emotional response to his speech.

"I didn't expect that. How can you expect to have anyone climb on stage
and turn your mike off," Hedges said Tuesday during a telephone interview.
"Watching it in my own country is heartbreaking."

Commencement speakers being booed is not new. Former TV talkshow host Phil
Donohue was jeered while giving a commencement speech Saturday. He shared
liberal views, including those on war, at North Carolina State University.

But this comes at a time when the New York Times is in the spotlight
because Jayson Blair, a former reporter resigned under fire. Blair was
questioned about deception and plagiarism in his stories.

College officials have attempted in the past year to revive the ideal of
civic engagement espoused by 19th-century graduate and Nobel Peace Prize
winner Jane Addams. It's an activist mindset of caring and being active in
one's community, Pribbenow said.

They launched a marketing campaign with the slogan "Think. Act. Give a
damn."

Some would say that's what some students did.

"Damn, we're not apathetic anymore," said 16-year professor Hank Esponsen.

People are deliberating. A father anticipating his daughter's graduation
instead found himself protesting at a bookstore Monday to read Hedges'
book on war.

More than 400 e-mails poured in from across the Rock River Valley and the
world, surpassing the small, private liberal arts college in northern
Illinois. Faculty, staff and students wrangled over questions as deep as
democracy and as varied as Americans' views on Iraq.

Professor of economics Michael Sullivan disliked Hedges' stereotyping of
soldiers as people who serve their country because other jobs are not
available. The professor entered the military in 1977 with a fellow
recruit who was a Ph.D.

Sullivan said a liberal arts education nurtures critical thought about
what's said and whether to buy into it. Saturday's commencement is a
consequence.

Other faculty members countered that respect for a speaker and civility
must be maintained, even if the speaker is a poor choice.

"Critical thinking isn't to heckle a speaker after his first two
sentences," said professor of economics Fred Rezazadeh.

Students at the meeting requested an apology from college administration.
A day of accomplishment became a debacle.

The graduation was Pribbenow's first commencement at Rockford College. An
informal group, including the college president, agreed on the speaker.
Already, he is creating a formal committee of faculty, staff, board
members and students to make recommendations of speakers next year.

Hedges was paid less than $5,000 to speak at the ceremony, Pribbenow said.

Pribbenow regretted the emotional toll the event had on graduates and
their family members.

"We had no intention of turning the commencement into a circus."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich originally was scheduled to give the commencement
address, which historically hasn't stirred much controversy. Most cannot
even remember past keynote speakers.

The governor canceled in March, and a New York agency recommended five
speakers, among them Hedges.

Pribbenow should have known what to expect, Hedges said Tuesday. "You
don't invite a speaker like this if you want 'climb every mountain.' "

A glossy send-off is not what the graduates got.

Hedges opened with: "I'm here to talk about war and empire."

He said the United States was an occupying force, rather than a liberating
force. He predicted Iraq would become a cesspool for the United States as
it was for the British in 1917.

Some faculty members questioned whether civility is a two-way street and
Hedges should have at least acknowledged that he was speaking to graduates
on the cusp of a great achievement - a college diploma.

"We did expect him to frame his remarks to a particular people on a
particular day," Pribbenow said.

Campus security tried to calm angered students and audience members, one
was a soldier just home from Iraq and about to ship out to Korea.

As graduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas, a campus
security vehicle whisked Hedges off the grounds.

Hedges said what he knew about Rockford was the progressiveness of Jane
Addams. What he discovered was uncomfortable and disturbing, although he
said he couldn't paint the entire community with the broad brushstroke of
protesters' actions.

His book, called "War is a Force that Gives us Meaning," explores the
fervor that takes over individual thought in times of war. People no
longer feel alienated, but instead, feel they belong to something larger
than themselves, Hedges said in his speech.

He viewed what happened Saturday as a manifestation of the phenomenon.

"I find it always frightening when that happens in war time," Hedges said.

George Kehoe, a 66-year-old father from rural Boone County does not view
his reaction as closed-minded. He approached the front of the stage in
protest.

He was disturbed, too. Veterans who sacrificed their health were in
attendance, Kehoe said.

Kehoe spent more than an hour reading Hedges' book at a store on Monday
night. He didn't walk out with a purchase.

About Rockford College

Rockford College was founded in 1847. It is an independent, co-ed liberal
arts institution. The college offers bachelor's degree programs in 31
majors and master's programs in business and teaching. It's one of only 10
institutions in Illinois with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Jane Addams
graduated from Rockford Seminary (what is now Rockford College) in 1881.

The well-known alumnae is the founder of Chicago's Hull House, a social
reform center. In 1931, she became the first American woman to win the
Nobel Peace Prize.

* As of the fall 2002 semester, the college had 864 full-time
undergraduate students from 10 states and 27 countries.

* The average ACT score for freshmen is 23, and the campus population is
62 percent women and 38 percent men.

* A racial breakdown: 84 percent white, 7.5 percent black, 4 percent
Hispanic and 3.5 percent Asian.

There are 80 full-time faculty members. The ratio of faculty to students
is 1 to 9.

Source: www.rockford.edu

  Chris Hedges


New York Times reporter Chris Hedges has spent 15 years covering conflicts
in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Algeria, Iraq, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
in Israel, Kosovo and Sarajevo. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in
English literature from Colgate University and a master of Divinity from
Harvard University.

Hedges was the Central American bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News
and later the Middle East bureau chief for that newspaper, based in
Jerusalem, from 1988 to 1990. He was the Middle East bureau chief for The
New York Times, based in Cairo, from 1991 to 1995 and later, the Balkans
bureau chief from 1995 to 1998. He was a member of The Times team that won
the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for the newspaper's
coverage of global terrorism, and he received the 2002 Amnesty
International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.

His debut book, "War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning," is a finalist for
the National Book Critics Circle Award. In it, he addresses humanity's
fascination with war through such references as Homer and Shakespeare.

Source: Rockford College Spring 2003 Commencement program