I Quit

Submitted by WilliamSB on Sat, 05/13/2006 - 6:47pm.
An Adjunct Professor of English at Boston College, a Jesuit-run college in, well, Boston, has resigned his teaching post in an open letter published in the Boston Globe condemning Secretary of State, formerly National Security Advisor, Compromising Rice.

In my opinion, this professor has something to offer the students neither Compromising Rice nor the current Administration at Boston College have to offer... a lesson in integrity.

The text of the open letter is as follows:

By Steve Almond, May 12, 2006

An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College.

DEAR Father Leahy,

I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College.

I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation.

Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive.

But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar.

She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.

The public record of her deceits is extensive. During the ramp-up to the Iraq war, she made 29 false or misleading public statements concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda, according to a congressional investigation by the House Committee on Government Reform.

To cite one example:

In an effort to build the case for war, then-National Security Adviser Rice repeatedly asserted that Iraq was pursuing a nuclear weapon, and specifically seeking uranium in Africa.

In July of 2003, after these claims were disproved, Rice said: ''Now if there were doubts about the underlying intelligence . . . those doubts were not communicated to the president, the vice president, or to me."

Rice's own deputy, Stephen Hadley, later admitted that the CIA had sent her a memo eight months earlier warning against the use of this claim.

In the three years since the war began, Rice has continued to misrepresent or simply ignore the truth about our deadly adventure in Iraq.

Like the president whom she serves so faithfully, she refuses to recognize her errors or the tragic consequences of those errors to the young soldiers and civilians dying in Iraq. She is a diplomat whose central allegiance is not to the democratic cause of this nation, but absolute power.

This is the woman to whom you will be bestowing an honorary degree, along with the privilege of addressing the graduating class of 2006.

It is this last notion I find most reprehensible: that Boston College would entrust to Rice the role of moral exemplar.

To be clear: I am not questioning her intellectual gifts or academic accomplishments. Nor her potentially inspiring role as a powerful woman of color.

But these are not the factors by which a commencement speaker should be judged. It is the content of one's character that matters here -- the reverence for truth and knowledge that Boston College purports to champion.

Rice does not personify these values; she repudiates them. Whatever inspiring rhetoric she might present to the graduating class, her actions as a citizen and politician tell a different story.

Honestly, Father Leahy, what lessons do you expect her to impart to impressionable seniors?

That hard work in the corporate sector might gain them a spot on the board of Chevron? That they, too, might someday have an oil tanker named after them? That it is acceptable to lie to the American people for political gain?

Given the widespread objection to inviting Rice, I would like to think you will rescind the offer. But that is clearly not going to happen.

Like the administration in Washington, you appear too proud to admit to your mistake. Instead, you will mouth a bunch of platitudes, all of which boil down to: You don't want to lose face.

In this sense, you leave me no choice.

I cannot, in good conscience, exhort my students to pursue truth and knowledge, then collect a paycheck from an institution that displays such flagrant disregard for both.

I would like to apologize to my students and prospective students. I would also urge them to investigate the words and actions of Rice, and to exercise their own First Amendment rights at her speech.

Steve Almond is the author of the story collections ''The Evil B. B. Chow" and ''My Life in Heavy Metal."
WilliamSB's blog
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Justice and Judgment!
Submitted by Bible Buck (not verified) on Tue, 05/16/2006 - 12:30pm.

(James 2:13) Mercy triumps over judgment.
The word justice can call to the mind a juridical order. Professor-you without sin cast the first stone. God is the absolute model of integrity. Justice is the famous moral and biblical virtue to extend to the total and all the commandments of God. The summons to an ominous judgment such as the professor's announcement of absolute condemnation is wrong. I agree in many ways with the professor on the absolute hypocrisy of the Right Wing politicians, but in no way would act in these extremes.
Professor, look very closely at U.S. Senator Rick Santorum's voting record on social justice and tell me he deserved Catholic man of the year from Christendom College. Is not the function of conscience attributed to the heart. Conscience is "theonomous" when it is described as pure, clear and true. Look at the formalism of the hypocrite. Look how the Biblical Texts and Christ himself admonish hypocrisy. Fraternal correction accompanied with fraternal charity is helpful. Intelligensia sometimes is dangerous. In (1 Cor. 1:19) St. Paul exhorts, For it is written; I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world.

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I do not understand how
Submitted by Unregistered (not verified) on Thu, 05/25/2006 - 12:37pm.

I do not understand how Mr. Almond is being judgmental in the sense that he is casting Rice into hell or saying that there is not redemption for her as Bible Buck seems to indicate in his response. Indeed, all Mr. Almond is doing is pointing out that Rice is not an example of integriy - a truth difficult to argue with.

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Understanding
Submitted by Bible Buck (not verified) on Fri, 06/02/2006 - 9:04am.

I do not take the extreme position Mr. Almond takes. Let us remember fraternal correction accompanied with fraternal charity is beneficial. (Matthew 7:2) Jesus exhorts, For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. (Romans 13:1-5) gives definitive affirmation let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. Let us never forget that governing authorities must be established in God's law. Is Steve Almond correct in his allegations against Condoleeza Rice? Truthfully I do not know. (Proverbs 14:29) states, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly. One thing I do know--Conservative Right Wing Politicians who talk Family Values--Do Not Value Familes! This absolutely would include President Bush. Look at the big tax cuts for the extreme rich. Look at Oil Company profits. Look at the U.S. Senate Bills regarding social justice the past 6 years and you will see definite proof. 50 million working Americans without health benefits in the richest country in the world is horrific! (Proverbs 10:31) states, The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut out. Remember a good tree produces good fruit.--Let us all pray--God Bless America.

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It is time to declare that our emperor has no clothes
Submitted by tim shipe on Thu, 06/08/2006 - 1:44am.
I agree with the professor's stand on principle. A Catholic institution should not be honoring openly pro-abortion politicians, and they should not be honoring leaders such as Secretary Rice, who has pretty clearly lied and led our Nation into many immoral actions. America's foreign policy needs to be reviewed and reformed, better that a Catholic institution had chosen someone who has stood up for justice AND peace, and not war and violence. Perhaps the Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the highest ranking Catholic in the Holy Land, should have been chosen.

It is certainly true that American Catholics need to be educated about the truth of what has been happening in our name in the Holy Land. The Patriarch has offered his advice many times, and called out to brother and sister Catholics in the United States, and we have failed him and his people, our people. I'm afraid that most Catholics in the US seem to be Americans first, before they are Catholic disciples of Jesus Christ. They have placed the virtue of patriotism above greater virtues- like the Israelites who missed seeing Jesus in their midst because they wanted their Messiah to be a militant-King- too many so-called Catholics today are falling into the same trap. They do not seem to care about true justice, only what works for their nation or themselves. This shortsightedness will lead to a fall, maybe many small slips, which should serve as wake-up calls, but do not seem to be working.

For instead of seeing 9-11, the 2nd Intifada, the explosion of emigration to the US, as indications of possible US policy blowback. Americans seem more thirsty for violent revenge, unquestioning nationalism, and uncaring acceptance of global economic forces like the World Bank/IMF, and Free Trade Agencies like GATT. All of this cannot end well- my concern is for my children, and the innocent children of the world- I cannot look at what has been happening in Iraq and Palestine, and not think about the children caught up in the tragedy of war and occupation.

Enough of this madness. If everyone would just start picturing their children living in all of these countries we have involvements in, and then ask themselves, what would you wish the US government and business interests do? If your children's lives and well-being was on the line, in a third or fourth world purgatory, what would you want the world's superpower to say and do? This is my personal criteria- as such I would not use bombs to liberate, only would I apply force to situations of genocide and obvious self-defense. I would establish a strict criteria of universal human rights, and use the bully pulpit and the leverage of shame and humane sanction, all very aggressively and forthrightly, without hypocrisy or double-standards for friends or allies. That is how we should be using America's power. This is how we must use America's power- as a Christian this is not negotiable.
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Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
Submitted by Charlie H.-Bible Buck (not verified) on Mon, 06/26/2006 - 11:53am.

(Isaiah 5:20) Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
(Psalm 24:1) and (1 Cor.10:26) states,The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. The American political agenda is an absolute disgrace. Deceit, deception, falsehood, manipulation and hypocrisy can be found in government and corporate America. Political and corporate America should learn the true explantion of the word "Charity." (1 Pet.4:8) Charity covers a multitude of sins.
(1 John 4:16)God is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God and God in him. (1 Cor. 13:13) Charity is the greatest theological virtue. (John 13:34-35) Charity gains us our badge of discipleship. (1 Cor. 13;2) We can have faith to move mountains, and have not charity we are nothing. The aggresiveness and selfishness in America corporate and political scheme's is incredible. Remember (Proverbs 20:27-28) The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depts of his heart. Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne. Please relate this magnificent proverbial wisdom towards the actions of President Bush and U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. Pennsylvania residents it is time to put an end to the kingpin of hypocrisy, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, a man who knows the talk but not the walk of Christ. Reading his book It Takes a Family, and looking at his voting record on social justice--Please look at all his votes on U.S.Senate Amendment bills and you will agree it gives me the right to call him the king of hypocrisy. I can see the speck in my own eye, but I see a plank in Senator Rick Santorum's eye. Pennsylvania voters Bob Casey Jr. is Pro-life and a very kind, merciful, and compotent Catholic. man.

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