Opinions Of Utah State U Hit 'All-Time Low' With Selection Of Danny Glover As Commencement Speaker

Many at Utah State University are less than pleased with the implications that come with actor-activist Danny Glover's planned commencement speech.

According to the Herald-Journal, some Utahns take issue with Glover's views on citizenship and his ties with Venezuela -- and they aren't holding back in expressing their disapproval:

On the Internet, websites for The Herald Journal, KSL-TV, the Standard Examiner and the Deseret News are abuzz with statements calling the actor "an anti-American Communist," "creep" and "idiot" with some telling USU to rescind their invitation.

"My opinion of Utah State just hit an all-time low," one commenter wrote.

Smithfield resident Russ Larsen, who wrote a letter to the editor last week on the topic, echoed those views.

"Utah State has lost a lot of esteem in my mind," he said, adding that the honorary doctorate that Glover will receive at the May 8 ceremony is "the final insult."

Utah State University President Stan Albrecht defended the school's choice in an Earth Day speech to students.

Addressing an enthusiastic crowd of about 100 in USU's Taggart Student Center on Thursday, Albrecht began by saying that "ideological discord" in the United States has reached new heights.

He went on to explain his support of Glover's visit, saying that the actor was chosen "not because of his Hollywood achievements but because he is a renowned and highly respected humanitarian known for his personal, hands-on efforts to help people throughout the world on issues that include hunger, housing for the poor, community safety, equal and fair wages for workers and meeting the health care needs of the underserved."

What do you think? How would you feel if Glover was your commencement speaker?

Comments

[LMPE]

12:25 AM on 04/28/2010

Hmm. Do the Mormons not like having a non-white person speak at their college?

[glockman]

08:34 AM on 04/28/2010

This is Utah State, not Brigham Young.

And perhaps they don't want a man who supports human rights abuses as a guest speaker.

[hallie5]

12:06 AM on 04/28/2010

I'd be delighted!

[trill5thefif]

08:50 PM on 04/27/2010

AHH the socialist are coming!! The socialists are coming!! If people really think that democracy is the best thing going then why even trip if some Hollywood actor who doesn't reject socialism as the devil's work? Danny Glover has said dumb stuff in his time but he has done far more positive things for the under privileged then most people with his money. Good job Utah. I have seen Danny Glover speak a few times in LA and he will do a great job at this commencement.

[zeppelingirl89]

07:29 PM on 04/27/2010

I don't get all the uproar over who speaks at graduation. I personally won't care who speaks at mine even if I disagree with their views. You can't make everybody happy....I'd just be glad to have a speaker that was well-known.

[BlackRabbit]

03:19 PM on 04/27/2010

I've never liked honorary degrees. Students pay through the nose for their educations, often go deep into debt, sacrifice years of their lives in near poverty, sit through hundreds of hours of lectures, put up with sometimes poor and abusive professors, stay up late nights to study and complete assignments, and far too often must tolerate draconian rules of conduct that violate their basic rights.

Then someone waltzes in for a day, makes a speech, and gets a degree.

Honorary or not, it debases the degrees of those who actually earn it.

[healthanalyst]

05:07 PM on 04/27/2010

Psst. Honorary degrees aren't real. You know that don't you? Right?

[BlackRabbit]

06:02 PM on 04/27/2010

I realize that they are purely symbolic, that they carry no weight nor represent any scholastic achievement.

Still don't like 'em. People work too hard for real degrees to debauch the currency with these fake ones.

[zeppelingirl89]

07:30 PM on 04/27/2010

Its not like they can use them though, so what does it matter?
It's really no different than handing out a medal.

[Cacey]

01:55 PM on 04/27/2010

My family came to Utah in the 1840s and I grew up there. In the decades I've been gone, the state, the first in the nation to have a Jewish governor, has sunk further and further into the mire of the Right Wing. I'm ashamed and this is purely racist.

[healthanalyst]

05:55 PM on 04/27/2010

Nice parks. Think of the good stuff.

[anghiari]

01:32 PM on 04/27/2010

Danny Glover is one of the most decent, nicest human beings one could ever meet. Danny lived in San Francisco for years before he got his film success and he lived there for many years after his success. You could still find Danny shopping at the local market always pleasant and generous to anyone who approached him. I am sure his activism got its start at San Francisco State's free speech rallies and he remains an activist on issues where he thinks his fellow human beings are not being treated fairly.

In all honesty, I cannot fault those who do not want him to speak EXCEPT to say they really know nothing about the man and should listen to what he has to say. The reason I cannot fault them is that Sarah Palin is speaking at a California State University in Yucaipa, CA and it looks like they may have paid her fee of $100,000.00...probably more the salaries of many of the professors. I suggest if Sarah Palin is getting an $100K fee, that she take one question from each professor about a matter in their speciality...only fair Sarah if you are being paid more than the professors, then you have to be at least as smart as they are. Bravo Danny!

[theTruthmaster]

04:04 PM on 04/30/2010

I have no doubts that the man is a nice person, but he has an immoral stance on many issues. Inviting a friend of the DICTATOR Hugo Chavez to speak at a commencement is an insult to the freedom loving Americans who have worked so hard to earn their degrees.

[Intelligentia]

02:45 PM on 05/01/2010

Yes, Hugo Chavez is a dictator because the media told you that he is! There are more human rights abuses in this country than in Venezuela. The media wants to demonize him, because he will not allow your oil companies to rape his country at the expense of his people. Those who hate Chavez are like the criminals in this country who hate Obama because he is fighting for the little people. When you explain to me why we are friends with China, then, I can listen to you about Hugo Chavez and dictatorship.

[coveark]

06:40 AM on 04/27/2010

Having a lot of problem commenting this AM

[pinkeyelemonade]

06:37 AM on 04/27/2010

Name-calling, reckless spewing of Fox-esque -isms, [from the right] in Utah, really? Let's review the list of Mr. Glover's qualifications for this speech: efforts to help people throughout the world on issues that include hunger, housing for the poor, community safety, equal and fair wages for workers and meeting the health care needs of the underserved.
Gosh, they're...right...what a jerk. It's like he pooped all over the Constitution! I feared this day, when I realized that I, too, am one of those Pinkos who have compassion for the human race. I guess I fell asleep in class the day my history teacher clearly outlined the dreams our forefathers had for American citizens to exert shameless xenophobia.

[laddieluv]

04:24 PM on 04/30/2010

Excellent.

Fanned.

[murphthesurf3]

10:39 PM on 04/26/2010

Yes, one would never want to have a commencement speaker who might challenge the thinking/world view of those graduating.

[Diver992]

09:36 PM on 04/26/2010

Oh, the horror. Time for him to call his BFF Hugo.

[glockman]

08:36 AM on 04/28/2010

Except that Hugo would simply refuse to let anyone speak who didn't agree with him.

And then he'd have them thrown in jail.

[Pinky40]

09:32 PM on 04/26/2010

Utah, what the heck are you doing??? This is a socialist compadre of Obama. I thought you all were conservatives? And by the way it's not his color it's his views....why not have a great man that happens to be black speak like say,.... Bill Cosby???

[pamique]

10:33 PM on 04/26/2010

Why not have a great man speak and not worry about what color he is?

[healthanalyst]

05:11 PM on 04/27/2010

This is Utah. They think the Deseret News is a real newspaper.

[climbing panda]

08:28 PM on 04/26/2010

they forgot to mention that this rocket scientist thinks earthquakes are caused by global warming

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/15/danny-glover-haiti-earthq_n_425160.html

[Forester]

07:23 PM on 04/26/2010

That does seem like a provocative choice for a conservative white state who like their blacks on the basketball court and nowhere else.

Maybe they thought he was Ben Vereen or Mr.T?

[pamique]

08:20 PM on 04/26/2010

What a bigoted statement. No one has brought up race. There is plenty to complain about when it comes to Danny Glover's politics. If they had invited Ward Churchill or Bill Ayers, you would have the same outcry.

Bringing up race is a weak intellectual argument, but doing so has become very popular with the Left.

[climbing panda]

08:29 PM on 04/26/2010

nicely said.

[Forester]

08:48 PM on 04/26/2010

Utah is a bigoted state having lived there and left. You?

[zeppelingirl89]

07:32 PM on 04/27/2010

Maybe they just wanted someone famous to speak?

[HijinxandShenanigans]

06:04 PM on 04/26/2010

Well, speaking from another local perspective, black people pretty much look all the same to Utahns as they see so few, so they are probably just convinced it's actually Obama coming to make the speech.

[pamique]

10:37 PM on 04/26/2010

Well, speaking from another local perspective, Utah people pretty much look all the same to african americans as they see so few, so they are probably just convinced its actually Bush coming to make the speech.

[kctlaw]

12:52 PM on 04/27/2010

How old are you? This is the second (at least) time that you are mimicking a poster. I honestly thought 6 year olds were the only one to do that. You know, MOM he's copying me. You might want to try to actually post YOUR thoughts/views instead of pulling the kiddie copy cat crap.

[kctlaw]

12:53 PM on 04/27/2010

Oh wait a minute, were at 3 now.