Ok, here’s goes. Like I said, I was actually pretty pleased with the speech and most of my comments have to do with the news coverage since I couldn’t be at graduation itself.
That being said, thumbs down, boos and two scoops of sadness to President Towey and his insistence to drag politics into the day. His introduction of President Bush was the only politicing I really noticed the whole day and in my mind put a damper on the whole thing. He has previously stated that the reason Bush was there was just for publicity, which in my mind made it even worse: instead of getting a speaker who would deliver a good commencement speech and help the graduates reflect and look forward (which Bush did), Towey wanted the notoriety. Towey commented, among other things, about how pro-life SVC is. And yes, there is a very strong Pro-Life club and they are very active, but it was again, polarizing, and of course, one of my favorite bumper stickers "You can’t be pro-life and start a war." And yes, how often does any school get to have the sitting president speak at graduation, let alone a school as small as SVC, but the priorities of the administration are still backwards, a scary trend I’ve seen over the last few years.
And while there were protesters (who had to be kept far off campus…which seems like a bit of a stretch of their first amendment rights, but anyway), what concerned me the most was that when some faculty voiced their (opposing) opinions, which got picked up in periodicals such as the L.A. Times, they were viewed as agitators and stepping out of line.
And of course, in the giant screw-up that is Saint Vincent communications, students were E-mailed and told to report for security checks at ten, they needed to be there at nine. That capped off the string of horrible communication choices, including announcing Bush and the change of date of graduation via the newly started President’s Blog in its third entry.
But anyway, back to the speech and coverage. Of course there were the obligatory mess ups: St. instead of Saint, Vincent’s instead of Vincent and at one point St. Benedict Hall was referred to as (St.) Rooney, but these kinds of things I’ve come to expect from the media, and the frickin’ Director of the Board.
The reporters mentioned that most people were ok with the whole situation, and from what I can gather they were, although there were quite a few who were not, and it was a bit disappointing that that side of the issue was not discussed at all.
The coverage began with Bush landing at Pittsburgh International Airport and oddly enough, with Murtha traveling with him. Murtha was the speaker at Seton Hill’s commencement last year, and when he dragged politics into his speech graduates got up and walked out of the gym, so it was surprising to see such a polarizing figure (especially to this area of Pa.) with bush.
The news anchors would break in every now and then with updates, including one from inside the Carey Center where Dr. Cook’s (my last of five advisers) video (we are Saint Vincent) was playing, so that was cool to see her talking to the gym about SVC.
Bush landed in Marine I behind Rooney and his motorcade traveled past Bonny (and the Westmoreland Hazmat Team) and into a special entrance tent constructed in Lot N for him. He went in clad in academic robes, which surprised me, but really shouldn’t. I guess since I hadn’t seen a president give a commencement speech before I was just caught off-guard…not that it really made any difference though.
Bush mentioned that the class of 2007 was the first to attend a mandatory microwave safety class, but that honor lies with my class, just a small mix-up in facts.
Bush spoke very eloquently, and even managed to get out "Melvin Platz" without any trouble (a bit surprising, since it’s not something that’s used in everyday speech). He did however say commence-me-ment. There were also a few verb tense mix-ups, but nothing that really distracted from the speech.
He spoke of the Rule of Saint Benedict as a practical guide to community life, he talked at length about service (reminding me of "Habits of the Heart" and its implications regarding civic membership), he commended those entering the armed forces and teaching careers. He spoke about Mother Teresa and her contributions to the world and he discussed the connection between Saint Ben’s (New Jersey) and Saint Vincent All in all, it was a wonderful commencement speech, it helped the class of 2007 reflect on their accomplishments, go boldly into the next phase of their lives and challenged them to face life with a new vigor for service.
After his speech apparantly there was a guy whose responsibility was to run across the stage and take the Seal of the President off the podium, kind of funny according to reports from the graduates. The news also reported numerous times on how this was the highest attended graduation to date: of course it was, it was the largest class to graduate to date. The percentage may have been the highest as well, but they fluctuate enough on their own due to the date, I wouldn’t read too much into that statistic.
Also after the speech they cut to a reporter to give a quick recap, which I thought was in bad taste seeing as the reporter was inside the gym and making his report while names were being read behind him. Had I been a family member near him (he appeared to be in the stands, but I may be wrong on that account) I would have asked him to be quiet.
On a related note, the term "Leader of the Free World" came up numerous times throughout the newscasts as well. I don’t really like that term, it’s very ethnocentric and kind of offensive to every single other country in the world, no wonder we’re hated so much abroad.
Also, I cringed a little bit when I saw people change their facebook profile pictures (normally a picture of yourself) to President Bush (especially when some of those people were female – ok, we get it, you like the president, now it’s getting a bit creepy). And along the same line of thinking, when I looked through various photo albums of the day, whenever I saw family members taking pictures with the graduates but holding up pictures of Bush (from programs and whatnot) I felt an urge to reach through my monitor and slap them and make them remember that graduation is supposed to be about the graduates, not the speaker.
To sum up, the whole spectacle was just one big pat on the back for SVC and Bush, and sadly, the focus seemed to have been taken away from the students. And while it was a very good speech and a once in a lifetime opportunity, the administration (or parts thereof) need to get their priorities straight (what I’ve been saying for a while now). The speech was much better than I anticipated and for that I was very happy, but sadly, I did not expect politics to take such an abundant presence during Towey’s introduction. But like one of my favorite administrators once told me, "It’s very difficult to be a democrat [at Saint Vincent]." How true.
