A DISGRACE – AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  As has been reported here, former Secretary of State Condi Rice was invited to deliver the commencement address at Rutgers University this spring.  This sparked an uproar among hard-left faculty and students, who consider her a "war criminal."  They demanded that the invitation be rescinded.

To its credit, Rutgers held its ground and refused to be ruled by the mob.  Unlike wimpy (and very left) Brandeis University, which rescinded an invitation to the courageous women's rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali after Muslim and leftists students complained, Rutgers emphasized the importance of free speech.

But now the Rutgers uproar has claimed its victim.  Secretary Rice has withdrawn.  From Fox: 

Condoleezza Rice announced Saturday that she will not be delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University’s graduation ceremony this month, saying the invitation has become a "distraction."

Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families. Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time,” the former secretary of state under President George W. Bush said in the statement.

"I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as (its) former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."

On Monday, roughly 50 Rutgers University students staged a sit-in at a school administration building in New Brunswick to protest the school's invitation to Rice to appear at the university's commencement.

The school's Board of Governors voted to pay $35,000 for her appearance at the May 18 ceremony. She was going to be awarded an honorary degree.

But several faculty members and students wanted the invitation rescinded because of Rice's role in the Iraq War. Rutgers' New Brunswick Faculty Council passed a resolution in March calling on the university's board of governors to rescind the invitation.

COMMENT:  Disgraceful, disgraceful, disgraceful.  That students cannot hear a former secretary of state because militant leftists on the faculty and in the student body object.

I'm very sorry that Secretary Rice withdrew.  It was the wrong decision.   She has bowed to the mob, just as Brandeis bowed to the mob. 

Ronald Reagan used to say that we are always one generation away from losing our freedom.  He was right.

May 3,  2014