Letter to the Editor: Commencement speaker a disappointing choice

Editor's note: The following open letter to President Russell Osgood was submitted to the S&B this week. We're not printing any more issues this semester, so we've posted the letter here instead.

Dear President Osgood,

While making my travel plans to attend my daughter's upcoming graduation from Grinnell, I visited your website and was appalled to discover that the commencement address will be delivered by Angela Davis. I investigated on the Web to see if this could really be the Angela Davis of memory, whether she had undergone some type of inspirational change, and what she has been about since gaining notoriety. I listened to a recording made at one of her recent speeches.

I found that she's even worse than I had recalled. Hers was an appeal for an emotional response from those already convinced, certainly not a rational treatment aimed to educate or persuade.

Ms. Davis came to national attention decades ago because of lethal violence (murder, kidnapping at gunpoint) by associates all armed with weapons registered in her name. I find nothing from her indicating remorse over these acts, much less denial. Her legal acquittal is more sad commentary on our justice system than sign of her innocence. Since, she's apparently made a living as an academic professional victim, her trade racism, her scientific contribution nil. Her irrational rants masquerade as social science. Is this dishonest scholarship something Grinnell espouses? Why choose as speaker an unrepentant accessory to violence and pseudo-scholar? Why send off our graduating sons and daughters with a pep talk from a cartoon relic of 60's radicalism?

Colleges and universities surely should be places of unfettered free speech, of uninhibited airing of ideas. These should be subjected to withering but civil testing, cross examination, debate, and clarification. Blowing off the head of an intellectual opponent with a shotgun does not qualify.

Commencement addresses, on the other hand, should inspire, reassure, challenge, offer perspective, and admonish the graduates at a moment they're singularly receptive. I expect nothing positive in these areas from Angela Davis. I expect a call to emote in anger, resentment, and hate, not a call to think. While my daughter is sufficiently independent and critical of thought to escape damage from the sophomoric demagoguery of Angela Davis, it's sad her college graduation will not send her on her way with something other than sheepskin. I will attend commencement for the sake of my daughter, but I cannot sit through her address in quiet that might be mistaken for approval of Angela Davis.

I am offended at the choice of a commencement speaker. I resent having this unpleasantness imposed upon what's otherwise a happy occasion for my family. I am disappointed that Grinnell appears not to be the educational institution of integrity that I had been led to believe.

Sincerely,
Michael H. Denyer, MD