Choate Students Say No to Rove Commencement Address

Yay on the students at Choate, who are calling on their headmaster to rescind his offer to Karl Rove to deliver the school's 2008 commencement address:

The News deeply objects to the appointment of Mr. Rove to speak this June. At Commencement two years ago on June 4, 2006, Headmaster Shanahan asked graduating seniors to think of their responsibilities to themselves, and to others. He lamented how “responsibility to others and for oneself has been all but forgotten in certain circles.” Mr. Shanahan alluded to various public figures who have been exposed for scandalous activities, noting that in spite of their lack of ethics and sense of responsibility they were all found to be “not guilty.” At that Commencement Mr. Shanahan posed a very important and pressing question: “How can so many moral, ethical and legal laws be broken and still no one is guilty, no one assumes public responsibility for having chosen to do wrong?”

It is ironic that the man who issued those words two years ago has chosen a commencement speaker who has gained infamy in many circles for less-than-ethical decisions and actions.Thus far, Mr. Rove has not been indicted for any major crimes. But, many would argue that he is as culpable for the compromised situation the country finds itself in as any other figure of the Bush administration.

This is becoming something of a pattern. Former Bush Administration officials aren't finding the lecture circuit to be as lucrative or welcoming as they'd hoped. Last month, the Washington Post reported that Alberto Gonzalez was having a hard time booking speaking gigs at colleges and universities, a situation that has put a crimp in his fundraising efforts to pay off his extensive legal bills.