We begin there are with the latest protests over Commencement Speakers and whether you think they should reflect students values. Democrats, 202 5853880. Republicans, 202 5853881. An independents and all others, 202 5853882. College graduates, we want to hear from you, 202 5855883. Join the conversation on facebook. Com cspan, send us a. Weet cspanwj, or email us we will get to your thoughts in a minute but let me begin with iece. Inside higher ed p substitutes speak out. In a season in which numerous Commencement Speakers with drew. Free speech and the crucial place of disagreement and Free Exchange and Higher Education. One of them did so in a way that appeared to hurt the feeling of graduates. Sees its share of controversies, but this year pur intenses debate. Some of those who drew enmity were generally well regarded, not overtly partisan figures. Robert birgeneau withdrew as a speaker at pennsylvanias haverford college. At smith college, christine lagarde, head of the imf, backed out after a cadre of students criticized imf policies that contribute to global inequality. These controversies led some commentators to ask whether the todayssatisfying students has risen to an impossibly high level. Others criticized the protests as clinical correctness run amok. What do you think . Democrats, 202 5853880. Republicans, 202 5853881. Independents, 202 5853882. If you just graduated from college or are about to graduate, 202 5855883. Hould these commencements because reflect the value of the student . Back to the inside higher ed piece. It would have been easy for those who spoke to avoid or play down controversy. That is some of the that is because some of the drama involved the perspective that they should be about the graduates and not the arguably contentious views of the speakers. That is not the path that the speakers at haverford and smith chose. Honorary degree recipient was scheduled to speak on sunday at haverford. In his first bite of the apple, he told a story that made fun of Honorary Degree holders everywhere. In the days leading up to the commencement come a he was encouraged to Say Something about the controversy. Otherwise it might look as if he were ducking. Bowen did not hold back. A little bit about the commencement address yesterday at haverford college. The speaker, william bowlen, criticized the students who had staged a protest. It makes the wall street if you expect to agree with commencement figures on everything, who do you expect to speak . Jamaal is a College Graduate in indianapolis. What do you think . Caller i recently graduated from notre dame. My experience was very enlightening for a person who comes from the innercity. My First Experience in notre dame was a protest we have for people who were not even part of the notre dame family as far as students or faculty. Complaining when the president was coming to speak. I thought that was very hypocritical. We always endure the priests with their sexual background as a moral characters on our campus. It struck me as amazing of how they were able to protest about the visits from our commanderinchief. As graduates, it is our day. If the majority of people do not agree with the views, political of ther aspects commencement speaker, i think being for the students is more important. It is our day. We do not want it to be marked by somebody who is coming in whose political views are diametrically opposed to the mainstream and specifically the people who are graduating. A lot of people in positions to be Commencement Speakers are propped up by corporate money. As a result, they tend to be able to get a pass. Whenever the mainstream and students are able to speak, the true feelings of the people come out. Host what about the argument that students are being close minded . That they do not want to hear a point of view that they may disagree with. Caller that is insulting. As a College Graduate, not only is my mind not closed, i am able to articulate my position. I do not need to be dictated to by somebody who has reached a conclusion that what their views is, their mission or crusade or whatever is not consistent with what i consider one of the better days of my academic career, celebrating my graduation. Like i said, as an African American man, i would not what Clarence Thomas at my graduation. Host thaddeus in georgia, democratic caller. Are you with us . Caller good morning. At morehousekend College School of medicine they invited the governor of georgia, nathan deal. A very right wing person. This is a medical school. Take moneyfused to from the government to expand the medicaid. 700,000 people could have insurance if he would expand it. The irony of this thing is that when he was running for office down here, he made all kinds of about comments, talking ghetto grandmothers and ghetto grandmothers could not get id to go vote. Blacks a predominantly college. He was asked to speak. They paid him 32,000. The dr. Martin luther king auditorium. Speaking ata person a medical school. To expandused ,edicaid so 700,000 people more people could have access to health care. Paradox. Eal on top of it, the faculty paid him 32,000 to basically come down there and say look, you are black people, i am not going to do what you want me to do. Give me 32,000, thank you very much. It really had this weekend had the Africanamerican Community in atlanta in an uproar. Being that cnn, this is the home of cnn did you hear anything about it . That is really news. And i am going to move on get some other voices. On your point of money attached to the Commencement Speakers, npr has this story on npr. Org. Of reasonsots schools turn to controversial big names are graduation. They bring publicity to campus and can inspire donations from new alumni and their families. You want to raise money but you also want to inspire the graduate. Headline making speakers comes the risk of backlash and leaders being put in an uncomfortable position of having to reverse course. Michelle in los angeles, democratic caller. Caller thank you for taking my call. I was at the haverford graduation, my daughter just graduated. The objection i had to the speaker was not about what he had to say. It is a quaker school. One of their beliefs is about nonviolence. They were going to award him an Honorary Degree. And so the students felt that it that he was coming to speak to the school but that they were going to honor him. And they felt that because he was not aligned with their principles, they should not honor him with an Honorary Degree. That was part of it as well. Host with your son or your daughter . Caller my daughter. Host was your daughter when that protested . Caller she did not protest. She was in agreement. She was in agreement with not having him ak was they did invite him to come and they didn want him to speak but he declined. Even the substitute speaker his boat to the kids even the substitute teacher who spoke to he brought up that it would have been wonderful if they could have had the discussion. Because the speaker declined then nothing could happen. Both,lly was criticizing the kids of the speakers who chose not to come. Host that was in the Higher Education article. Saying that the substitute speaker, william bowen, to both sides. What do you make of that . Right. That was should havethe kids recognized the speaker to decline. He was at berkeley, a liberal institution. I also feel i attended a Friends Meeting before commencement. We sat in silence and people were compelled to stand up and speak. That is the way quakers do their religious ceremony. Sense of such strong peace and nonviolence. I sided with students as well. Host you probably agree with this piece written on huffington post. Com by one of the college at smith at Rutgers University, excuse me, against Condoleezza Rice. The protestsat are not about the individual speakers themselves. They are not just about commencement speeches. This is our generation of young people sending a clear and strong message that racism, bigotry, civil Rights Violations receive no honor from us. Michelle, what do you make of that . Caller i have a few bones to pick with Condoleezza Rice. Overall, i admire her. Say, thises on to is not an issue of left or right. This is oppressed the basic views are not differing that land on the political spectrum. Such things are not partisan issues. John andm john in pennsylvania, independent caller. Of the you make protests . Should speakers reflect student values . Are a greatink they move on the parts of the students and the faculty at those universities. Half of the u. S. Things Condoleezza Rice is a war criminal. 3 4 of the world sinks the same thing. Christine lagarde heads up on Austerity Program that leads other countries in debt forever. I think it is long past time student started to speak out in more numbers about this. The folks at the schools the. The schools bring the folks bring in. Chools rice, she is a war criminal. Christine lagarde is questionable, deal, i cannot believe morehead brought him. Host we are going to go to paul. Caller you have to have people who have other opinions. You are never going to learn anything if all you listen to are the opinions of your inside. The First Amendment does not apply to private parties but it guarantees the right to say not things that other people agree with but things that they disagree with. If i am listening to the news and i hear a speech by president going to turn on fox news to find out. SaySpeaker Boehner something and i went to find out where he has made a mistake, im going to turn on msnbc. You would not turn on fox news s mistakes cspanw boehner and you would not turn to msnbc for obamas mistake. You have to listen to people with differing opinions, even if you do not agree. Because you might learn something from that. Host all right. Larry in texas, democratic caller. Era,r back in the vietnam they were singing give peace a chance. It was not different between that and the iraq war. The weapons of mass destruction. Condoleezza rice was one of the leaders. I dont blame the students for not wanting her there. Herother, i would not let texas,hat was larry in democratic caller. Getting your thoughts on whether these Commencement Speakers should reflect the view of students. You have seen a wave of protests this year. Some say it has reached a crescendo. It has happened in the past but more so this year. A little bit about previous protests, here is the Washington Post, butler robertsty deans john too controversial to speak in 2010. Ann coulter was uninvited from a speech at Fordham University in 2012. Students have complained or protested about tom tancred romney cheney, and that speaking on campus. Hillary clintons invitation to speak at the college of Saint Catherine in 2008. Kathleen sebelius was the subject of protest at Georgetown University in 2012. Michelle obamas plan speech at a Kansas High School sparked criticism. A little bit of history about these protests. Democrats, 202 5853880. Republicans, 202 5853881. Independents and all others, 202 5853882. Also, if you are a recent College Graduate, 202 5855883. We want to hear your story. Join the conversation on twitter, cspanwj. Or on facebook. Com cspan. You can email us as well journal cspan. Org. We will get to more of your thoughts coming up. We have about 25 minutes left to continue talking about this. Then we are going to have a roundtable discussion about what is on the agenda for congress this week. House lawmakers return after spending last week in their district. The house and senate in session this week. This is from the wall street journal, co. A recent article about the list of canceled graduation speakers and how it is getting longer. It says that according to the foundation for individual rights education, between 1987 and 2008 there were 48 protests of planned speeches, not all for graduation, that led to 21 incidents of an invited guests not speaking. Two thousand nine, there have been 95 protests resulting in 39 cancellations. Greg lukyanov, the president of the foundation for individual rights in education, he was on the washington journal talking about this issue. [video clip] upst it started bubbling around 2009 that we had an increase in situations in which students and faculty would get together. Not just commencement but it gets a lot harder around. Ommencement season we had a joke that it was dissing the patient season. It got less and less funny it season. Nvitation it got less and less funny. I am a lawyer, i am fine with people protesting and wearing black armbands. I do not like it when the goal is to get some and not to speak on your campus. Host on washington journal we spoke with mr. Lukianoff, president of individual rights about Commencement Speakers being uninvited after students protest. Do you think speakers should reflect students morals and values . Mike, republican caller. It is ai believe symptom of the liberal faculty members that we have at these schools. I do not necessarily think it is the opinion of the students. They are led by these faculty members at these universities. In our just what we have education system. I guess we have to live with it. Host do you caller it is totally being led by the faculty. Host you think this is more of an issue of conservative speakers being protested by liberal schools . Caller correct. The Washington Post has this from president of the American Council of trustees and alumni. Our campuses have become islands of intolerance where a small group of close minded students and faculty can cut off discussion. It is not a rightleft political problem. It is a failure of leadership. Economy has become onesided, coercive, and hostile to a multiplicity of perspectives. That is from the Washington Post, quoting the president of the American Council of trustees and alumni. Steve, new york, independent caller. Caller to a previous point, in the mid1960s at the beginning i am not sure if it was just before the u. S. Entered the vietnam war. Was the commencement. Peaker a bunch of the graduates got up and walked out. Maybe some of your wizards at the station could pull that photograph up on the screen. I would like to know what happened to those students who got up and walked out. I think that would be a form of protest for todays Commencement Speakers. Should justsagree get up and walk out right in front of the speaker, the controversial speaker. To show that they have got guts and mean what they say. Theyre against the speaker. That is my comment. Remind you that jill abramson, the former executive editor of the new york times, is giving a commencement address today at wake forest university. That will not air live but we 1 00air it on cspan2 at p. M. Eastern time, 10 00 a. M. On the west coast. July percent Jill Abramsons remarks at wake forest university. At 1 00 today. What she had to say after being let go by the new york times. Whetheryour thoughts on Commencement Speakers should reflect students values. Ashley and ohio, a recent College Graduate. Where did you graduate from . Caller ohio state university. Host what are your thoughts . Caller as a College Graduate, these faculty are able to pay for these public speakers to come in. Large amounts like the third 2000. Large amounts like the 32,000. They are getting it from student tuition. That is their day, it is 4, 6, or eight years in the university. They do not want a speaker there, i dont think they should have to sit and listen to somebody they do not respect or agree with. Host do you remember who spoke at yours . Caller no clue. Host did you go . Caller i went to commencement. All i can remember was how glad i was it was over. People spend so much money on the speakers that come in my mind, are criminals. Ask any college student, they are up for debate but not that day. Host dave in michigan, republican caller. Caller good morning. I have been listening and hearing these comments about Condoleezza Rice being a war criminal. Of how ignorant many people are. That lady has got more class than critics could ever dream of having. Todays Commencement Speakers that are banned are primarily conservative speakers going to these liberal colleges. The liberal colleges are filled with professors that are usually on anticapitalistic and anticonservative. They get that way because they the capitalistic environment. They have to go back to teaching because they cannot solve reallife problems with what they learned in college themselves. So they go back and show somebody else what they learned in college. They grow resentment towards capitalism because they are failures in it. Host we got your thoughts. Condoleezza rice put out a statement after what happened at Rutgers University saying commencement should be a time of celebration for graduates and families. Has becomenvitation a distraction for the University Community at this special time. I am honored to have served my country. Defended americas