Our View: Big decisions demand big input from faculty and student body
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinions
All this talk about sabotaging graduation has got the Editorial Board worried.
Ever since the news broke that former Missouri Governor and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft would be receiving an honorary degree and speaking at this year's graduation, students and faculty have been in an uproar. From threatening to hand back degrees to threatening to bring noisemakers to graduation, people are up in arms. We think this situation can be avoided or made easier in the future by receiving student and faculty input before selecting the graduation speaker and awarding honorary degrees. We realize it is impossible to make everyone happy, but getting input from those who actually sit through graduation and the students who worked hard to receive degrees from our University might save the Board and the President from another backlash.
As of now, the Board of Governors has to approve any honorary degrees, which are supposed to be nominated by a committee made up of select Board members and faculty. Yet some faculty claim they were never made aware Ashcroft would be receiving a degree, nor did anyone ask them if they approved of the decision.
We would like to see the committee work together, board members and faculty, to recommend someone for an honorary degree. But we also suggest going one step further. Why not add students to the committee? After all, we are the ones who work so hard to earn our degrees. Don't we have a right to help judge whether someone is qualified enough to receive a degree, honorary or not, from Truman? The University wants students to have high standards, so we should have a right to hold everyone else to that standard as well.
A democratic process will never make everyone happy, but we at least should have some say in who gets to give the generic graduation speech at commencement. As of right now, the President has the ultimate and only say in who the commencement speaker will be, but we want to see a more democratic process put in place. Bring the candidates for graduation speaker before Faculty Senate and Student Senate. Get some input from those who will be attending the graduation ceremony. That way, the President will know if he has a major controversy on his hands ahead of time. The speaker will not always satisfy everyone, but we should at least have the right to argue about who we want to give the traditional 'your future is bright, reach for the stars' speech at commencement.
Even though many of you are opposed to Ashcroft's appointment as graduation speaker, we want graduation to remain focused on the graduates and all their hard work throughout their academic careers. Graduating from college is an irreplaceable moment in life. To bring noisemakers, boo or make a scene while Ashcroft speaks will do nothing but detract from the graduates' achievements and the joy their families will share with them. We support your right to choose not to listen or to perform some type of silent protest. But don't make graduation about John Ashcroft, his questionable political past, or the University's reasoning behind granting him an honorary degree. Graduates, make it the best and most exciting day of your lives in spite of this decision.
Ever since the news broke that former Missouri Governor and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft would be receiving an honorary degree and speaking at this year's graduation, students and faculty have been in an uproar. From threatening to hand back degrees to threatening to bring noisemakers to graduation, people are up in arms. We think this situation can be avoided or made easier in the future by receiving student and faculty input before selecting the graduation speaker and awarding honorary degrees. We realize it is impossible to make everyone happy, but getting input from those who actually sit through graduation and the students who worked hard to receive degrees from our University might save the Board and the President from another backlash.
As of now, the Board of Governors has to approve any honorary degrees, which are supposed to be nominated by a committee made up of select Board members and faculty. Yet some faculty claim they were never made aware Ashcroft would be receiving a degree, nor did anyone ask them if they approved of the decision.
We would like to see the committee work together, board members and faculty, to recommend someone for an honorary degree. But we also suggest going one step further. Why not add students to the committee? After all, we are the ones who work so hard to earn our degrees. Don't we have a right to help judge whether someone is qualified enough to receive a degree, honorary or not, from Truman? The University wants students to have high standards, so we should have a right to hold everyone else to that standard as well.
A democratic process will never make everyone happy, but we at least should have some say in who gets to give the generic graduation speech at commencement. As of right now, the President has the ultimate and only say in who the commencement speaker will be, but we want to see a more democratic process put in place. Bring the candidates for graduation speaker before Faculty Senate and Student Senate. Get some input from those who will be attending the graduation ceremony. That way, the President will know if he has a major controversy on his hands ahead of time. The speaker will not always satisfy everyone, but we should at least have the right to argue about who we want to give the traditional 'your future is bright, reach for the stars' speech at commencement.
Even though many of you are opposed to Ashcroft's appointment as graduation speaker, we want graduation to remain focused on the graduates and all their hard work throughout their academic careers. Graduating from college is an irreplaceable moment in life. To bring noisemakers, boo or make a scene while Ashcroft speaks will do nothing but detract from the graduates' achievements and the joy their families will share with them. We support your right to choose not to listen or to perform some type of silent protest. But don't make graduation about John Ashcroft, his questionable political past, or the University's reasoning behind granting him an honorary degree. Graduates, make it the best and most exciting day of your lives in spite of this decision.
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