Mumia commencement speech at UC-Santa Cruz under fire
Patty
Mumia commencement addresses under fire
By ROBIN MUSITELLI
Santa Cruz Sentinel
SANTA CRUZ - Andrea Marisa Samulon says she's thrilled that infamous
death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal will speak via audiotape at her UC Santa
Cruz commencement ceremony this weekend.
"Mumia talks about imperialism and issues that are core issues to Merrill
College," she said.
But Carol Foster, a UCSC Stevenson College alumna whose son will also
graduate this weekend from Stevenson, doesn't share that view.
"I was appalled this ceremony was being used by a person to espouse their
political beliefs. This isn't the time or place," Foster said.
"A graduation commencement should be a time when the audience is bonded
together, ... when people leave feeling inspired. It's not a time for
politics," Foster said.
Reviled or respected, Abu-Jamal gets a gut reaction. Convicted of killing
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981, Abu-Jamal has become a
national cause.
Activists like Samulon contend Abu-Jamal, a former radio journalist, was set
up because of his radical political beliefs and criticism of Philadelphia
police.
The flip side of the argument comes from police groups and Faulkner's widow.
To them, Abu-Jamal's a cop killer, and the evidence against him
overwhelming.
Largely through Samulon's efforts, Abu-Jamal was selected to speak via audio
tape. It is a six-minute pre-recorded phone conversation from his prison
cell.
The address will be heard at the Merrill College commencement Saturday and
at the Sevenson College ceremonies Sunday.
Although students make speaker recommendations, this year's keynote speakers
already had been chosen when Samulon launched her push for Abu-Jamal. She
petitioned students, got on the Internet and approached college
administrators.
Merrill Provost John Schecter initially objected to an address by Abu-Jamal,
but later said a transcript of his address could be made available, Samulon
said.
Samulon pressed her case, and at a graduation rehearsal asked her fellow
graduates what they wanted.
They roared their support, she said.
Two students set to speak at Stevenson then submitted their own proposal to
include the Abu-Jamal address as part of their graduation speeches.
Samulon said Abu-Jamal's "critical view of the world" is in keeping with
Merrill's core values.
"Students are the ones supposedly being prepared to take on the world and
its problems. Mumia ties together the importance of using your privilege as
an educated human to really help you be critical of the world and not just
go and become part of the status quo," she said.
"Where, if not at a university, can minority voices be heard?" UCSC
spokeswoman Liz Irwin commented.
The decision to use Abu-Jamal's commencement speeches has drawn an angry
reaction from the Fraternal Order of Police, a national organization whose
members previously launched a boycott of Ben and Jerry's ice cream because
its founders spoke in favor of Abu- Jamal.
Commencement speakers should be admired and looked up to, said Mike Hadley,
president of the fraternal order's California branch. Abu-Jamal is not that
person, Hadley said.
Foster said she was told by UCSC Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood's secretary
that there had been a "barrage" of calls protesting the choice.
Irwin said there were only four.
"I am sure most parents of students at the university are not aware of this
situation," Foster said. "They won't have a clue this is happening."
Foster said she's not interested in organizing a protest because she doesn't
"want to contribute to more disruption on that day. It's a special time for
graduates and their families."
Samulon agreed.
"I don't intend to make my graduation into a rally. June 10 isn't one of my
days to protest for Mumia. This is my graduation."