I’m in complete agreement with Erin O’Connor on the issue. I find the inevitable annual controversy tiring — “They picked who!?! He said what!?!”
Graduation is not the time for polarizing politics and culture wars. It’s a celebration of students. As a student, every year I suggested that my school bring in a non-political speaker such as Dave Barry for commencement. Instead we got alternating politicians — a liberal one year, a conservative the next. That political balance is certainly better than the mix a lot of other schools go with, but when a big chunk of the audience is inevitably annoyed and alienated just because of the speaker selection, that’s not a good situation. I’d take Dave Barry over that drama any day.