Dissent in an Unlikely Place-* speaks at college...views on the war dampen the welcome

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/11/1112/

Dissent in an Unlikely Place
Bush speaks today at a Catholic college led by an ally, but views on the war dampen the welcome.
by James Gerstenzang

LATROBE, PA. - President Bush could hardly have picked a better private liberal arts college to find a welcoming audience for a commencement address than St. Vincent, a Catholic school run by a loyal former White House aide in a conservative region.

Yet consider what has taken place here since Bush was invited for today’s speech: Students vigorously debated the invitation at a town-hall meeting last month. A former St. Vincent College president wrote a scathing newspaper essay saying Bush had no place on the campus. About a quarter of the tenure-rank faculty wrote an open letter to Bush challenging the Iraq war as contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine. Several dozen people held a candlelight vigil Thursday night protesting the visit. And for several Sundays, nuns protested on the edge of the campus. 0511 02

The discord, polite and reasoned as it may be, is emblematic of passions across the country as the war moves further into its fifth year, with increasing military deployments and mounting death tolls among Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops.

If anything, the debate there - at a college associated with the Order of St. Benedict and led by a man who once ran Bush’s faith-based initiative - suggests that dissent is spreading into places with little history of protest.

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[BlackHawk706867]

1. Great post, and I am very happy to hear that dissent is out there in areas like this. eom

[patrice]

2. Even the perception of Hypocrisy is very uncomfortable. nm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Benedictines

are noted for social action, I believe. I have visited a Benedictine retreat center for lectures by my Pir (I appreciate how nice they have been to us Sufis), and have read their literature. Kudos to all those who stood up and let their voices be heard.

[jtrockville]

4. As an alumni of the sister-university, Seton Hill, I am proud.

Thank you to those who gave voice to dissent, as I was unable to make it.

[GuvWurld]

5. This, and the BYU Cheney protests,

betray the plausibility of even 28% approval ratings. These guys are not welcome anywhere. Maybe, maybe they have 2.8% approval, if that. :shrug:

[WinkyDink]

6. Well, we ARE a BLUE state!

[Virginia Dare]

7. Nuns are even out protesting...

yes sir things are looking bad for the chimp..