[Peace-discuss] Hear no evil

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Anent our discussion at the meeting tonight on people's unwillingness
to hear about the war.  --CGE]

	Hofstra Graduation
	Author booed for anti-Bush remarks
	BY BART JONES
	STAFF WRITER
	May 23, 2004, 7:17 PM EDT

E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated writers in America, was nearly
booed off the stage at Hofstra University Sunday when he gave a
commencement address lambasting President George W. Bush and effectively
calling him a liar.

Booing that came mainly from the crowd in the stands became so intense
that Doctorow stopped speaking at one point, showing no emotion as he
stood silently and listened to the jeers. Hofstra President Stuart
Rabinowitz intervened, and called on the audience to allow him to finish.
He did, although some booing persisted.

Doctorow, who spent virtually all of his 20-minute address in Hempstead
criticizing Bush, told the crowd that like himself the president is a
storyteller. But "sadly they are not good stories this president tells,"
he said. "They are not good stories because they are not true." That line
provoked the first boos, along with scattered cheers.

"One story he told was that the country of Iraq had nuclear and biological
and chemical weapons of mass destruction and was intending shortly to use
them on us," he said. "That was an exciting story all right, it was
designed to send shivers up our spines. But it was not true.

"Another story was that the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, was in league
with the terrorists of al-Qaida," he said. "And that turned out to be not
true. But anyway we went off to war on the basis of these stories."

Those lines provoked an outburst of boos so loud the "Ragtime" author
stopped the speech. Rabinowitz approached the podium and called for calm.
"We value open discussion and debate," he said. "For the sake of your
graduates, please let him finish."

Some students and most of the faculty responded with a standing ovation,
and Doctorow resumed speaking. He attacked Bush for giving the rich tax
breaks, doing "a very poor job of combating terrorism" and allowing the
government to subpoena libraries "to see what books you've been taking
out."

Many parents and relatives were livid over the address, saying afterward
that a college graduation was not the place for a political speech. "If
this would have happened in Florida, we would have taken him out" of the
stadium, said Frank Mallafre, who traveled from Miami for his
granddaughter's graduation.

Bill Schmidt, 51, of North Bellmore, shared the outrage. "To ruin my
daughter's graduation with politics is pathetic," the retired New York
Police Department captain said. "I think the president is doing the best
he can" in the war against terrorism.

Many students also called Doctorow's speech inappropriate. Peter Hulse,
24, of Manchester, England, said, "He's a bit like Michael Moore," the
documentary director who provoked booing at last year's Oscars' ceremony
by criticizing the war in Iraq.

But some defended Doctorow's speech. "I think he's entitled to his opinion
and he's as American as anyone else," said a Hempstead resident who
identified himself only as Frank and whose daughter was graduating.

One Hofstra official said Sunday that while Doctorow had the right to say
what he did, he violated the unwritten code that college commencement
speeches should inspire and unite a student body. Provost Dr. Herman
Berliner said he has been to numerous graduation ceremonies during the
past 30 years and "I cannot remember a commencement speech that was as
divisive as this commencement speech was."

Berliner said it was relatively common during the Vietnam War, but
"extraordinarily uncommon" in recent times for a speaker to have to stop
speaking.

Still, it has happened recently. Last year, for instance, New York Times
reporter Chris Hedges was booed off the stage when he tried to deliver an
anti-war speech at Rockford College in Illinois.

Some Hofstra professors said Doctorow was on target in discussing the war.
"I thought this was a totally appropriate place to talk about politics
because that's the world our students are entering," said sociology
professor Cythnia Bogard. "I only wish their parents had provided them a
better role model."

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.