The Associated Press First lady Laura
Bush talks to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show.
In regard to the article “Students
protest Bush speaking at commencement“ (News, Feb. 20),
which reported opposition by some students in the Graduate School
of Education and Information Studies’ to the invitation of
Laura Bush to speak at their commencement ceremonies:
I am getting weary and disheartened watching the crumbling of
our glorious University of California due to the immature,
illogical, and petty liberal appeasement programs so firmly in
place. You won’t be getting my two kids! Grow up and be
grateful for the hands that feed you! We alumni love Laura Bush
““ we are old enough to be conservatives now, we have outgrown
the follies and foolishness of youth and inexperienced thinking.
You should be grateful that a lady as gracious as she would give
you puffy-headed elitists the time of day. Welcome her and learn
something for a change.
Erika Clew Hacienda Heights, Calif.
Wow! The graduate students, and no doubt their Marxist
instructors, are about as closed minded, idiotic, mean spirited,
and unjust as can possibly be in protesting first lady Laura Bush
as a speaker. They’re a bunch of elitist, spoiled snots with
no experience of the real world, who have the gall to judge where
they have no right to. UCLA is looking worse and worse as an
institution.
Debra Riley Chicago, Ill.
What a bunch of educated (?) idiots we are producing in this
country. First lady Laura Bush shines in comparison to
these intellectual, no common-sense crackpots the universities are
turning out. Liberalism has been too long pushed down the
throats of students; nobody raised any complaints when Bill Clinton
was asked to speak at commencements. I hope Bush turns your
invitation down; these students do not deserve such a
wonderful speaker. May God save this country and others from
these whackos.
Joan Harding Tennessee
It is very obvious to me that both Estela Zarate and Tara
Watford not only have an apparent agenda of their own, but lack a
common decency and respect that should come with their so-called
credentials as doctoral degree recipients. Dean Aimee Dorr has it
right and probably should check closer the “shallow
credentials” of both Zarate and Watford before releasing them
into any educational system. God help the children that they may
come in contact with.
Terry Davis Mesa, Ariz.
Colleges campuses are a disgrace and the center of closed
thought! This arrogant and closed-minded attitude explains why the
public educational system has been such a dismal failure in
teaching our children to read, write and think objectively.
C.F. Smith Jr. Kathleen, Ga.
Thank you for solving a great mystery for me. I’ve always
wondered where pompous, self-serving, arrogant educators receive
their degrees. Chancellor Albert Carnesale and Dean Aimee Dorr are
absolutely correct about the recognition UCLA’s Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies would receive by having
first lady Laura Bush speak at this year’s commencement
ceremony. However, the type of recognition its students will
receive after this story will not be what they had intended. Good
job hunting!
Michael Hasty Grand Prairie, Texas
Thank you for your courage in printing the article on
UCLA’s inviting Laura Bush as speaker at this years
commencement ceremony. Glad to see that open minds exist and have
the right to be heard.
Ken Scruggs San Diego, Calif
Kudos to Chancellor Albert Carnesale and Dean Aimee Dorr for
inviting the first lady. What do Estela Zarate and others have to
fear from having Laura Bush as a commencement speaker? If students
disagree with the first lady, her husband, his policies, or with
the Republican party in general, they should realize that they can
only benefit by listening to one whom they so vehemently oppose.
Zarate’s doctoral aspirations indicate she is an intelligent
woman ““ a wise woman would not shun that sage advice to
“know thine enemy.” Listening to Bush might strengthen
Zarate’s convictions and allow her to better understand how
to meaningfully pursue them.
Jeff Thieret Pittsburgh, Penn.
It is disturbing that Estela Zarate will soon join the ranks of
teachers who will be molding the minds of other students. I’m
sure her specialty will be “how to perform shallow
thinking.” The university must be proud to have graduated
such a stellar member of the community ““ we’re glad
she’s California’s problem!
Bill Kalmar Michigan
Laura Bush is an excellent choice, and students that have any
common sense and character at all will recognize that. I have two
children, now young men of 18 and 22, and the strength of their
character has to do in part with their having heard lessons that
they might not have chosen for themselves. Now that there is
finally a first family with strength of character in the White
House, it’s an excellent time for the first lady to
speak. After eight years of the Clintons, it’s
refreshing to have a first lady who is indeed a lady.
Bob Stager Akron, Ohio
A doctorate in education? Hmmm. From everything I have read and
observed, it is the easiest advanced degree to get. And these
idiots are complaining about the first lady’s credentials?
I’m just glad that my children are already raised because the
shallow me-first dilettantes the schools of education are putting
out now are truly disturbing. Maybe this is why California ranks
last in just about every category of testing student skills.
Mike Barbour Naperville, Ill.
This flap over Laura Bush’s invitation to speak at your
commencement would be laughable if it were not tinged with so much
hatred and hypocrisy. This is politics, pure and simple. Just as no
Democrats want to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton’s
massive involvement with the same Enron company that all
anti-Bushites want to slime President Bush with, these same
hate-filled voices want only their views or no views on the campus
of UCLA. This is not free speech! What these voices want is the
exact opposite of free speech. It is black-listing. It is worse
than McCarthyism. It is Stalinism. They want what they believe, and
everyone else be damned. To give any credence whatsoever to such
narrow-minded and vindictive voices will produce only more
confusion and decline in what was once a great academic
institution.
Gunnard Z. Johnston Jr.
UCLA and the University of California system continue their
precipitous drop in my respect for institutions of higher learning.
They lead the way in the politically correct, liberal leanings
demeaning all higher education. They demean themselves by
continuing to implement, against state and federal laws, programs
promoting “diversity” at the expense of merit, fairness
and common sense. We’ve seen this week the type of ridiculous
and inane “courses” endorsed by the UC, such as the
student-run, participatory sexuality courses at Berkeley. And now,
some UCLA students demonstrate their absence of taste, respect and
fairness, proudly displaying their blatant liberal persuasion by
the slight of a very distinguished, admired and respected first
lady, Laura Bush. I am not surprised. I am disappointed.
Bill Riles Houston, Texas
As a father of two engineering students who paid for his
kids’ education with his own money I’d like to ask the
protesters who criticize Laura Bush’s
“credentials”: just what are your own accomplishments
in life, except burning a hole in your parents’ wallets? I
truly hope that UCLA will escape the “Berkeleysation”
of their campus, where freedom of speech is sabotaged by a few
arrogant snot-nosed brats who consider educational status superior
to real world accomplishments. If these two doctoral aspirants are
representative of the products of the higher educational system,
then our schools will have a long way to go to become competitive
with other nations, if ever.
Herrmann Glockler Reno, Nev.
So the first lady of the United States isn’t good enough
to address the deep thinkers in the Graduate School of Education
and Information Studies? This graduate of UCLA has no
intention of giving another dime to the school. I hope others
do the same.
Julie E. Carlson Moraga, Calif.
I see your leftist children have deemed Laura Bush to be an
unacceptable commencement speaker. Perhaps Osama bin Walker … ?
Joseph Mente
Olympia Fields, Ill.
Give me a break. Laura Bush is exactly the role model for a
teacher that an overwhelming majority of Americans would choose to
educate our own children. That makes her an ideal speaker in any
venue concerning education. Tara Watford and Estela Zarate
obviously have an inflated opinion about who they are and their
importance to the field of education. Hopefully they pick up a
modicum of common sense and humility somewhere along the line to go
along with those doctorate degrees. Glenn Alexander
St. Helena, Calif.
Who is Estela Zarate? I am absolutely flabbergasted
that this person would make such statements about Laura Bush.
Does Zarate receive public funding towards her degree? I am
appalled and extremely angry that this person could be using my tax
dollars in the future in any way, shape or form.
Morris Roberts UC San Diego alumnus
To protest against Laura Bush speaking at the commencement
ceremony is absurd. You are at war, so is Canada. I really find
this Left Coast attitude absolutely disgusting. Bush speaks about
issues in education and has championed many a cause. The protesters
degrade any female that happens to be married. Grow up ““ we
live in much more dangerous times.
Ruho Paluoja Professor Seneca College of Applied Arts
and Technology Toronto, Canada
The student resistance to Laura Bush speaking at the
commencement is not hard to understand. Overall the percentage of
speakers at these events who may be conservative is very low.
Since most centers of higher education are liberal and socialist
oriented, an opposing view might be threatening ““ especially
if the speaker were to be persuasive. This could be confusing to
the younger person who still could be moved to start thinking from
the right instead of the left. This is why public education turns
out such a dismal product. There is only enough time in a day to
indoctrinate the young with anti-American sentiment, global
warming, destruction of the rain forest, etc. There is no time left
for the less important subjects like reading, writing and
arithmetic.
Len Curtis Midlothian, Ill.
I find it appalling that fellow university students would
bad-mouth the first lady of the United States! I am sure if Mumia
Abu-Jamal was invited to speak, these same “students”
would be overjoyed. They need to get a life and start living in the
real world, where face-lifts and Ferraris aren’t the
norm.
Michael P. Donahue Philadelphia University
Some UCLA students’ ugly and ungracious attitudes towards
first lady Laura Bush reflect badly on all of you ““ and all
of us ““ as acutely ignorant “Left Coast” boors
who remain uneducated despite years of taxpayer-supported classes.
Yes, I support the University of California system, and independent
thinking. No, I did not vote for George W. Bush. But yes, I expect,
nay, demand tolerance, respect, courtesy and basic human decency
towards the first lady. The truth is, I hope she does not accept
UCLA’s invitation. Not because she is unworthy of UCLA, but
because your classmates are too arrogant, small-minded, and
immature to be worthy of Bush. Please include a campus newsflash
from the rest of the world: grow up! My patience with these antics
is utterly exhausted.
E.A. McCarthy
I think it is very unfortunate that the protesting students feel
Laura Bush is not qualified (by their standards) and are
displaying such a negative attitude ““ without
first hearing what Bush has to say. To express such a
narrow-minded attitude is to confirm a
gross immaturity and lack of sophistication on the part
of the students. If I were Bush, I would simply tell UCLA to
take their graduation and shove it.
Bill Grant Rainier, Ore.
 All I hear from the left is tolerance, but I suppose it
also means “we only have tolerance for people who believe as
we do” otherwise, stay away from us! The attitudes displayed
by some students at UCLA, while I support their right to voice
them, is one of the main reasons our educational system is in
shambles! These students need to do an awful lot of growing up if
they expect to be our future leaders or I fear for this
country!
Steven Garrett Dallas, Texas
The students protesting Laura Bush’s invitation are
typical of the spoiled-brat liberal kids populating so many
universities. These kids don’t believe they have to listen to
different viewpoints. They’ve been brainwashed by their
left-leaning, liberal professors and they know it; their views are
the only valid ones. Rampant censorship of conservative ideas has
dominated the “halls of higher learning” for many years
now. Their protesting isn’t surprising; it’s so
predictable as to be boring. Don’t expect clear and critical
thinking from these kids, or respect either.
M. J. Wright Solon, Iowa
The students at UCLA who oppose Laura Bush resemble the typical
leftist liberal garbage that comes out of the “Left
Coast” institutions of higher learning. I hope Bush tells the
student body to “go to hell;” we don’t need you
or your leftist socialist philosophy. The next time a war
breaks out somewhere in the world, we should hand every
liberal an M-16 and tell them to fight the enemy. There
isn’t one of them who will fight for this country under any
circumstance. They are gutless people who hate America and hide
behind their treasonous words. If the liberals were in charge of
the country for the next 10 years under the present worldly
conditions, we would no longer exist as a powerful nation. Maybe
this is what they really would like to see America become, a nation
no longer in power or in charge of keeping peace in the world.
I pity the arrival of that day.
Ken NerbakÂ
Congratulations to the ladies protesting the commencement speech
of Laura Bush. You are showing your elitist colors early on in your
career. These actions are truly tasteless, but hardly shocking
these days. Hopefully you will one day realize how petty and
ludicrous you are making yourselves look. Until then, you are
providing quite a bit of amusement to those who care to watch
(those who haven’t already turned their heads in disgust).
Bravo!
Jeff Degginger Tulsa, Okla.
I only hope that this opposition to Laura Bush as commencement
speaker magnifies the myopic vision of too many on campuses today.
If UCLA were to invite an amoral personality (read: politically
correct) like Louis Farrakhan, Hillary Clinton, Rosie
O’Donnell, or Jesse Jackson, the selection committee would
have been hailed for its foresight in selecting someone that
espouses the values most akin to the faculty and students. I am not
a moralist, but do you mind telling why many at your university and
many others abhor modest decency, good works, strength,
humility,and honesty that is embodied by Bush? These people to whom
I refer are dangerously narrow minded and have no business in
doctorate level endeavors in academia, let alone the real
world.
Michael V. Carpenter
As for the malcontents protesting first lady Bush’s
invitation, you’re full of yourselves!!!
Pablo Manzano Houston, Texas
The first lady of the United States of America has
“shallow credentials” and therefore should not be your
commencement speaker? Stupid comments such as these merely
underscore the sheltered, cloistered, uninformed life many college
students lead. To the arrogant, elitist spoiled brats that slammed
this elegant, highly accomplished woman, I can only say that you
are really not nearly as intelligent as you think you are. You are
merely showing your ignorance of and intolerance to opposing points
of view. As you throw your little temper tantrums, you might well
be reminded that you have the ability to obtain an education
because this is a free country where diverse opinions should be
welcomed, not shunned. Perhaps one day, when you truly learn
something of life, you will appreciate the thoughts of others. You
should be ashamed of yourselves.
Richard J. Gaudy
How sad, how pathetic, and yet how completely typical. Estela
Zarate’s objections to the invitation extended to first lady
Laura Bush to speak at the UCLA commencement ceremony is so typical
of hyper-politicized liberals. I always find it fascinating that
those who speak the loudest for “tolerance” and against
censorship are the first ones to cry foul when they are for once
the ones who must demonstrate tolerance. Despite her claims that
Bush, a former librarian, is not a worthy speaker, I have serious
doubts that Zarate and her cohorts would have any problem at all
welcoming a liberal non-educator like Hillary Clinton. If those on
the UCLA campus who champion true tolerance (if there are any) have
any backbone at all, they will tell Zarate and her friends to sit
down, shut up, and start tolerating.
Ben Gibbons
So this is the sort of thing that traumatizes young collegians
today? Life at UCLA must either be so free and easy that students
are able to waste their time and energy on such a trivial issue or
there is a “vast left-wing conspiracy” at work behind
the scenes here dedicated to limiting free speech on American
campuses.Â
Gerald A. Levano, Esq. Bethpage, N.Y.