The Condoleezza Rice Commencement Speech Organizing Page
"What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to
suggest that what we mean is a
sense of national responsibility ... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but
the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
-Adlai Stevenson
(1900-1965)
[Former Governor of Illinois and UN Ambassador],
Speech, August 27, 1952, "The Nature of Patriotism."
Stanford Graduation June 16, 2002,
9.30am, Stanford Stadium: Condi Rice was there. So were we, to expose all
the destructive policies she pursued while Provost at Stanford, and has
pursued since joining the Bush Administration as National Security
Advisor. More than 3500 Commencement Flyers based on the information in
the petition below were distributed and several banners condemning Condi's
abysmal record as National Security Advisor, Stanford Provost, and Chevron
Board Member were raised and cheered by many in the audience. At the same
time many seniors wore the flyers on their mortarboards, and many audience
members held up their own flyer towards Condi as a show of quiet but
determined resistance to her continuing destructive policies, despite her
platitudinous words...
A short list of other nationally and internationally prominent individuals
who as potential graduation speakers we feel would much better reflect the
Spirit and Ideals of Stanford University than Condi Rice, and any of whom
would engender much less of the "inevitable" controversy
surrounding the choice of speaker: Nelson Mandela, Rep.
Barbara Lee, Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
Resources:
An Open Letter to the Stanford and Bay Area Communities:
An Open Letter encouraging support from the Stanford Community, as well as from any
outside organizations or individuals who object to the policies
supported by Ms. Rice (includes link for directions to the Stanford campus, more
useful links to campus and community groups; formatting of this is best seen in I. Explorer).
PLEASE NOTE: Members of the extended Stanford community, including alumni, who have
not had the opportunity to sign the petition in person are encouraged to
email their "signature" to jzide@stanford.edu. Please include your name,
year, and Stanford affiliation.
Downloadable Petition (PDF
format ) -- Quite comprehensive, lists key points of why so very many
students and community members are upset at the choice of Condi as
Stanford commencement speaker, and lists many good references for
further exploration of the issues.
BSU = Black Student Union
RF = Resident Fellow
CIP = Capital Improvement Project
MEChA = Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
CSRE = Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
AAAS = African and African American Studies Dept
ROTC = Reserve Officer Training Corps
--- Other Members of Commencement Organizing Effort:
- C Dahlke
- F Fleischman
- I Monroe
- I Slattery
- S Fels
- A Baker
- I Slattery
- M Vander Sluis
- B Blanchard
- N Robertson
Did Condi Rice fail to act on pre-September 11th intelligence,
despite ample evidence that the CIA, the FBI, and the Bush
Administration had prior warning? This burden falls especially
heavily on Dr. Rice's shoulders, since one of the primary roles of
the National Security Advisor is to relay information concerning
domestic and international terrorist threats to the White House
(Time). On May 16th 2002, Dr. Rice lied to defend
the White House by stating "I don't think anybody could have
predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into
the World Trade Center, take another and slam it into the Pentagon;
that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked plane
as a missile. All this reporting about hijacking was about
traditional hijacking." Considering the widely publicized
terrorist attempts to fly planes into the Eiffel Tower (1994) and CIA
headquarters (1995), and a 1999 CIA report detailing the possibility
of al-Qaeda operatives hijacking and flying planes into strategic
targets, Dr. Rice's statement is patently false:
