The controversial decision to select Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, as the commencement speaker at the private, all-women’s Barnard College in New York City has prompted some righteous indignation.
“It is truly devastating that Barnard chose a speaker who bears the banner of abortion—one of the most polarizing, impassioned subjects of morality in the history of modern civilization,” Kate Christensen, a Barnard College senior and president of the Columbia University College Republicans, wrote in an op-ed for The Columbia Spectator. “For an event that is supposed to be celebratory, uniting, and joyous, why must the school choose a speaker who is so deeply divisive?”
“By choosing such a controversial figure,” Christiensen continued, “Barnard implies that students who take deep offense to this choice do not have valid concerns, and their beliefs do not matter.”
“Choosing a speaker of such moral and political controversy seems to assume that the opposing minority will be shamed into silence for their beliefs and will take this decision more or less sitting down. Perhaps Barnard, in whatever calculus it is doing, does not care about offending and isolating students like me, families in attendance like mine, or beliefs like the ones I hold.”
The piece was “Liked” on Facebook nearly 500 times and prompted a robust debate in the comments section.
In selecting Richards, campus officials stated that she “has advocated for civic engagement and public participation as essential components of law-making and the political process (and) … her extraordinary insight and experience will inspire our graduates, whose own lives and careers will contribute to the future of these critically important issues for women everywhere.”
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