Could anyone have imagined that the major commencement protest at a University graduation thus far occurred April 26 at Brigham Young University (BYU)? Probably not.But then could anyone have imagined that the Vice President with the lowest approval rating in modern American history would request and receive an invitation to be the commencement speaker? And no one could have imagined the organized moral courage of seniors like Ashley Sanders, Eric Bybee, Steven Greenstreet, Carl Brinton and graduate student Joe Vogel.
BYU is owned and run by the Mormon Church. This year it graduated 5,378 students with bachelor’s degrees, 717 students with master’s degrees and 190 students with doctoral degrees. Ninety-nine percent of the graduates are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Morman Church).
Before wagon-training in the mid-eighteen hundreds to the Great Salt Lake Valley, Mormons were terribly persecuted and brutalized from one migration to another.
The Mormon Church was born from revelation, resistance and dissent. Its mutual assistance commitment to poor or otherwise needy Mormons remains a marvel of organization and steadfastness. So does its expected regime of no alcohol, tobacco or drugs - a religious health movement of much success.
The Church today is considered very conservative. Over eighty percent of voting Mormons cast their vote for Republicans. At BYU, obedience, conformity and not questioning authority is part of the cultural tradition.
So just to read in the newspapers about “dissident BYU graduates” planning an alternative commencement in an alternative auditorium jarred the customary stereotypes.
Supported by some faculty members, alumni, citizens of the local community, and twenty students, in the middle of final exams, no less, they persuaded over 3,000 of their fellow students to sign a petition protesting Cheney and supporting a graduation ceremony about alternatives.
The core student organizers are devout Mormons - a reality I determined from discussions before and after my giving one of the three alternative commencement addresses. Some had already completed their two year Mormon “mission” in this country or abroad. They were a little older and more experienced than the usual graduating seniors.
They were not about to remain silent. They believed the standards of their faith and those of the university were being violated by the record of Dick Cheney. Included in their list of criticisms were “Mr. Cheney’s involvement in the decision to invade Iraq, his defense of torture as a method of interrogation, his ties to Halliburton, Enron and the Energy Task Force, his extreme conservatism and the conservative pattern of officials invited to speak at BYU.
The students also wished to “highlight the value of free speech, to give minority student voices a voice and to highlight the need for alternatives, dissent, and diversity.”
Also invited to speak were Jack Healey, former Amnesty International Director, and Peter Ashdown, former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and civic leader.
Raising the money for the event, with help from readers of The Daily Kos, was not the most difficult challenge. That was reserved for locating a venue for the large attendance which they expected.
BYU officials promptly turned down their request for a hall. No alternative commencement on campus. The “BYU 25″ then went to other educational institutions. A Middle School said yes then reversed its decision. The Superintendent of Schools for Provo’s public schools placed all the auditoriums off limits.
Finally, several miles from campus, in Orem, Utah, the students secured the large arena at Utah Valley State College. Over 1,200 people showed up, including students and faculty in their caps and gowns. It was a thoughtful and spirited gathering. They knew this was a historic marker for the BYU community.
What most of them did not know was the mettle and wisdom of the student leaders, whose ten days of hectic endeavors, made this unprecedented event a reality. They soon knew why. First, Eric Bybee, who will join Teach for America as a teacher in Harlem this fall, stood up and recounted in detail the hurdles and active obstacles which they overcame. He took three exams in one day.
Then came student organizer, Ashley Sanders, a humanities major. She said: “BYU should have to defend its decision to invite Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney should speak, but we should also be able to respond. When people have to give reasons for their opposition and reasons for their support of something, then we’re better people as a civic society.”
Cheney did speak - briefly. He spent two thirds of his remarks praising BYU in a variety of ways from their “stone-cold sober” number one rating in the nation to their athletic teams. His comments were designed for applause. Then he offered some homilies about success in life. Then he was off to Air Force Two.
Over at Utah Valley State College, the BYU students were teaching their elders that a critical, humane mind is a difficult thing to silence.
After what they described as a very successful graduation that stressed alternatives, the student organizers held a party at an art gallery. They cooked a delicious and nutritious dinner for all. There was no alcohol imbibed, no tobacco smoked.
They had practiced their faith along with their academic learning and civic responsibilities.
Ralph Nader’s website.
“BYU students were teaching their elders that a critical, humane mind is a difficult thing to silence”
…and I’d like to thank my father and my mother, and my mother, and my mother, and my mother, and my mother for putting me through college….
I hear the dance afterwards sucked too
Thank you Mr. Nader, A wonderful and informative article with a positive light.
Nader for Prez 2008
Thank the Lord that these kids are now going out into the world and they will make a difference! Just think how wonderful they will be, with that determination they can go far and hopefully they will teach many along the way.
The documentary about Nader, “An Unreasonable Man”, will be out on DVD in a few days.
We need to learn to speak out as well. There are all sorts of opportunties to practice speaking our minds. I particularly enjoy the “conversation radio” of http://www.headonradio.com with Bob Kincaid.
Complete audio of this inspring event can be found at:
http://peteashdown.org/journal/2007/04/27/byu-alternative-commencement-speech/
Way to go BYU 25!
canuckchuck–
So, is your ignorance blissful? Try watching the PBS Special “The Mormons.” As a nonbeliever in a 90% Mormon town even I am offended by your comment. We need to celebrate these students because they are taking action while most of us are sitting on our butts watching American Idol instead of adding to the misinformation that is rampant about their beliefs.
Nader/Kucinich
Or
Kucinich/Nader
in 08!
Why would anyone, graduating from any University (even BYU) with the intelligence of a grape , wish to gather and listen to an international criminal say anything; except an apology, and full confession.? But then again we ARE talking about Mormons, no surprises there.
As a former Mormon, I had to laugh when I read this line:
“Before wagon-training in the mid-eighteen hundreds to the Great Salt Lake Valley, Mormons were terribly persecuted and brutalized from one migration to another.”
Every hardship the Mormons faced at the outset they brought on themselves. For example, they were expelled from Missouri after the violent “Mormon War” there in the 1830s, and what brought that about? Their claim that Northwestern Missouri was “adam-ondi-ahman.” The place where Adam and Eve had lived… and that is was the New Jerusalem. That God had given them the land to build the New Jerusalem. But what got the local non Mormons upset was speeches by Sidney Rigdon, 2nd most powerful leader in the church that the locals would either convert to Mormonism or be driven out at the point of bayonettes. Joseph Smith also had a paramilitary group, the Danites, that he sent to destroy a town over a melee between Mormon and non-Mormon voters. These threats and acts of violence brought on the Mormon War, and the eventual extermination order issued by the Governor.
Today, Mormons push the Glorified Version of Mormon History… they were the victims in all cases, and persecution came from wicked people at all sides. This simply is not true.
I’m not wanting to begin a debate about early Mormon persecution, but it amazes me how people like Nadar can allude to their persecution as if it was brought on them from outside instead of brought on themselves from within.
The persecution mindset is so strong that even today, Mormons see themselves as persecuted.
Aside from all that…. Kudos to the students. Your should be very proud you rose to the occassion.