To the Editor:
Regarding student complaints about the selection of Jeff Immelt '78 as commencement speaker ("Immelt tapped for commencement," May 10), this is a prime example of the ignorance of some of today's "top-notch" college students. You just have to laugh at students who think they've been shortchanged because Immelt is a CEO -- and not a leader who has "had a profound impact on the world." Is job creation in developing countries not a "profound" impact? What about medical technology that has improved health care outcomes for millions of people? Or affordable credit that has allowed Joe and Jane Six-Pack to buy new home appliances (thereby sustaining and creating manufacturing jobs)? GE and its leaders have had a lot more "actual impact" on the world over the decades than has Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton or Jon Stewart. One would think Dartmouth seniors would be thrilled to hear from the leader of an organization that has had such a real and lasting impact on the world. But to some students, apparently validation of world impact is gained only through years of appearing on the nightly news.
I hope these whiners will appreciate reality the next time they look out the window of a jet and see a GE aircraft engine or flip a light-switch and read by the light of a GE bulb.
