The Professor, Mary Ann
Harvard Law Prof Mary Ann Glendon (met her years ago) was set to receive the prestigious Laetare Medal at Notre Dame's graduation ceremony. However, they also invited President Obama to give the commencement speech. Because she feels the university isn't following its mission by inviting a well-known supporter of abortion, giving him an honorary degree, and then touting her acceptance speech as "balance," she has withdrawn from the event and turned down the award.
As Obi-wan says, "You must do what you feel is right, of course," but is this the right thing to do? Was Notre Dame so wrong to invite the President, who doesn't just represent himself, but represents the country? Honoring the President can show respect for the country--it doesn't say you support every belief he has. Notre Dame is a significant educational institution that has intercourse with many people and beliefs--how destructive of their mission is it to acknowledge President Obama this way?
Even if she disagrees, and even feel she's being used, mightn't it still be better to accept the award and make her speech? It does provide balance, and I don't think anyone would claim it means she agrees with everything Notre Dame does.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:14 AM
5 Comments:
Her letter turning down the award, while containing a lot of dicta (she's a law professor- so its fair to use that term) about Notre Dame's awarding of a degree to someone outside the US Conference of Bishops' dictates over abortion issues, really seems to turn on Notre Dame's marketing of the commencement as a sort of point/counterpoint between her and Obama in which she was unwilling to engage. That may or may not be a smokescreen but it is what she said. She will certainly increase her invites from certain groups as a result of this very public declination (maybe thats why in other other dicta, she trumpets her previous ND commencement address as being recognized as one the best ever)
read it at http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/04/glendon_decline.html
They are not just inviting Pres to speak. That would be fine (and is tradition apparently). They are giving an honorary law degree. That is the sticking point.
Oh well, she has a right to stand on principle as well as expressing her opinion. I wonder if Notre Dame will hide religious symbols as Georgetown did when Obama gives his speech...
There are three issues: (1) Should a Catholic university have a pro-choice speaker at a formal event? (2) Should a Catholic university award an honorary law degree to a pro-choice politician?
These issues have been debated a lot (esp. in the blogosphere) for over a month, and Mary Ann Glendon continued to be on the roster. In fact, the local bishop, who boycotted the event because of Obama, requested she not boycott it.
But the third issue is: (3) Suppose that some university invites Person X to receive a medal (which normally means they are free to give whatever remarks or speech they feel like giving, especially since this medal involves a speech during graduation). Then they invite Person Y -- Obama, Ahminedejad, whoever -- and a scandal erupts. In their defense, the university president defends the presence of Y on the grounds that Y will perhaps benefit by hearing X's counterpoint speech.
That means that the university is trying to cover its backside by declaring that X is there to give a counterpoint. In this case, Mary Ann Glendon learned through the press that her hosts have decided her job is to lecture the President of the United States on abortion.
Unless that just so happens to be the speech she was preparing anyway, she is right to feel that Notre Dame has double-crossed her, and is using her in a weird way.
That's how I would feel, and that is her stated reason for withdrawing. Considering that she didn't withdraw earlier, I think it makes sense to take her at her word.
Richard Feynman says that when he won a Nobel Prize, he almost turned it down because he thought it would create a tremendous hassle in his life. Then he realize that turning it down would make even a bigger hassle, so he accepted. Maybe that's how Professor Glendon should have dealth with it. Made the speech she was going to make, and let the controversy die down.
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