While ignoring faculty protesters during his commencement address at Furman University (SC), President Bush nevertheless decided to meet the issue head-on. Thanking the profs for their devotion to improving the lives of young people, he said that he too, was a believer in free speech, “and to prove it, I’m about to give you one.”
The President noted that Governor Mark Sanford, also present at the ceremony, graduated 25 years ago when his father, George H.W. Bush, was the speaker. Commenting on that coincidence, he said this means that “some at Furman will have heard graduation speeches from two generations of Bushes. It’s a great step forward for the Bush family—and a great step backward for your English Department.”
The President stressed the value of personal responsibility and public service to the grads, mentioning that his connections with Furman included the fact that “one of the first people I see every morning is a Furman grad and my Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Mike McConnell, class of 1966.”
The President quipped that when he asked “Mike if he ever took part in the ‘Midnight Serenade,’” he said: “I’d like to tell you, but that information is classified.”
Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.
