May 23, 2008
Furman faculty right on Bush
I am writing in regards to the controversy at Furman concerning the choice of President Bush as the convocation speaker for this year's graduation. As a Furman alum, I was offended by the snippy and insulting tone of Dan Hoover's recent column explaining the situation.
Mr. Hoover implied that the Furman professors who have signed an "I Object" letter in response to President Bush's upcoming visit to the university are troublemakers, inappropriately griping about problems they have with the Bush administration. Mr. Hoover even deadpanned, "Somehow Bush escaped blame for the recent cyclone in Myanmar."
I want to give a voice of respect for the professors at Furman who I know to be a thoughtful and respectful group. Many of the Furman faculty as well as many of the citizens of our state, country and world are deeply disappointed in the Bush administration.
I believe the Furman faculty who signed the "I Object" letter have found a suitable way to deal with an unfortunate situation in which the students' voices were heard and considered but no prior discussion was held within the academic faculty family before such a potentially controversial invitation was issued.
Ellie Hammond
Travelers Rest
Furman faculty fulfilling duty
I opposed the war in Iraq months before I participated in the invasion. As an officer in a front-line unit with the 101st Airborne Division, I experienced firsthand the hardships unraveled when an incompetent administration squanders a competent military on a poorly planned and unnecessary war.
Forgive me, then, for objecting when another administration -- that of my alma mater, Furman University -- plans to squander a commencement afternoon honoring the man directly responsible for countless failures leading to and stemming from the war in Iraq, not least of which is a military weakened to such an extent that Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody said last month that he's "never seen our lack of strategic depth be where it is today."
I support the We Object campaign and I hope participating faculty members are able to impart to the graduating class one last lesson in their Furman education: that a civic responsibility to protest is worth more than a contractual obligation to sit.
Geoff Edwards
Fayetteville, Ga.
