A tremendous amount of flux has occurred at LSU in the last few years in the name of progress.
Innumerable advances have been made in order for LSU to catapult itself out of the third tier of United States pedagogical rankings and present both itself and Louisiana overall as a place committed to education and learning.
Unfortunately, these efforts were defecated upon when the university administration chose George W. Bush as spring commencement speaker.
Surely, having a sitting president speak at an event is usually an honor for any institution, but considering who currently holds the presidency, the administration’s choice for speaker is disgustingly alarming.
Bush will speak to mass communication graduates though he denounces the watchdog model of their journalism education.
Bush will speak to economics majors though he is a perpetual fighter of free trade.
Bush will speak to geography and anthropology majors though he believes the third world can be bought and sold and manipulated to achieve any of his iniquitous whims.
Bush will speak to political science majors though he threatens the Bill of Rights with the Patriot Act.
Bush will speak to psychology graduates though he unethically attempted to use subliminal advertising in his 2000 “Rats” ad.
Bush will speak to English graduates though he consistently debauches the legitimacy of the English language.
Bush will speak to Louisiana’s future teachers though his support of school vouchers threatens the stability of a public education system already weakened by white flight and general racial division.
Bush will speak to business graduates though his own attempts at business only resulted in failure — not everyone is bankrolled with daddy’s money.
Overall, Bush as graduation speaker is an embarrassment.
Given LSU’s plight to garner the respect of the national academic community, how could the administration invite the most anti-intellectual president since Andrew Johnson to speak to graduates?
The invitation makes a mockery of the flagship agenda and spits in the face of the graduating students’ intellectual fruition while reinforcing the stereotype that Louisiana is a state of simpletons and rednecks.
When even Louisiana’s flagship university honors the president by inviting him to speak at what should be an academically oriented occasion, what does that convey about the state and what image does that present to the numerous groups of people LSU has tried so hard to impress?
How can LSU transform itself from just legitimate to something great when it does not have the academic integrity to denounce a president who threatens many of the ideals it tries to indoctrinate in its students?
Moreover, former gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal told the LSU Young Republicans at a meeting last year Bush joked with him about Louisiana’s brain drain to his home state of Texas. The president finds this very problematic situation funny. His insensitivity and crassness about this dire situation proves his ineptness at delivering a speech to students Louisiana has spent a lot of money on educating.
The state does not spend millions of dollars on TOPS each year so President Bush can lightheartedly amuse himself with the destruction of Louisiana’s economy at the hands of Texan business and industry concentration.
Why is Bush coming to LSU anyway? It isn’t because Bush possesses some odd fondness for LSU’s stately oaks and broad magnolias.
The answer is simple. The election is drawing near, and some analysts consider Louisiana to be a swing state.
How could the University allow the accomplishments of its graduates to be a forum for Bush’s political advancement in Louisiana?
Graduates and their families and friends provide a very captive audience.
The question remains: how can this audience balance respect for the office of the president while, if they choose, conveying their contempt for the man that holds it?
Protest must occur to promulgate the desired image of LSU as a mecca of academic excellence.