Took a while, but better late than never.
Ex-Princeton University president William Bowen, a commencement speaker Sunday at Haverford (Pa.) College, laid into protestors who opposed the planned address of Robert Birgeneau, former University of California, Berkeley chancellor. Birgeneau withdrew his graduation appearance amid an outcry from more than 40 students and three professors about his handling of a 2011 student protest at Berkeley that involved police force.
The group wanted Birgeneau to apologize, support payments for victims, and write a letter to Haverford students explaining his position on the events and “what you learned from them,” according to the Associated Press, to which Birgeneau said no.
“In my view, [the protestors] should have encouraged him to come and engage in a genuine discussion, not to come, tail between his legs, to respond to an indictment that a self-chosen jury had reached without hearing counter-arguments,” Bowen said Sunday of the developments.
He also rebuked a student leader of the protests who called Birgeneau’s absence “a minor victory.”
“It represents nothing of the kind,” Bowen said, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “In keeping with the views of many others in higher education, I regard this outcome as a defeat, pure and simple, for Haverford — no victory for anyone who believes, as I think most of us do, in both openness to many points of view and mutual respect.”
Bowen conceded that Birgeneau still should have appeared, however, saying he responded “intemperately” to the controversy.
His remarks reportedly received a standing ovation.
A clipped video of Bowen’s address is below.
Bowen’s take comes during a graduation season that has seen numerous commencement speakers either pull out of or be removed from planned appearances. Brandeis University withdrew its offer of an honorary degree to the women’s rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and IMF chief Christine Lagarde both withdrew from commencement speaking slots amid student and faculty pushback.
