Forty-seven Dartmouth faculty signed a letter protesting the choice of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson '68 as commencement speaker and presented it to College President James Wright on June 8. The letter, originally drafted by history professor Bruce Nelson, began circulating among professors on June 7.
"I was very concerned about the fact that by inviting [Paulson] to speak in a certain sense the College and the trustees were validating the Bush administration," Nelson said. "That's not a good thing to be doing, in my opinion."
Nelson emphasized that the letter was not meant as an attack on Paulson, who began serving as Secretary of the Treasury in July of 2006.
"I didn't really want to pick a fight with Mr. Paulson. That wasn't my objective," Nelson said. "This really wasn't about Paulson except insofar as he is an official of the Bush administration."
Wright released a statement to the Valley News on Friday that commended Paulson.
"I'm very proud of Mr. Paulson for his record of public services, as well as for his commitment to protecting the environment and recognizing that we are part of a global society," Wright said.
The letter, written by Nelson about a week before Commencement, outlines the perceived flaws in Bush's presidency. In it, the Bush administration is called "a clear and unprecedented danger to our democracy." It also claims that to remain silent in the face of the Bush administrations acts would be to violate their "obligations of citizenship."
"In my opinion and the opinion of many people this is no ordinary administration," Nelson told The Dartmouth. "This is an administration that has been unusually ambitious to be transformative at both the domestic and international level in ways that I find profoundly disturbing."
Mathematics professor John Lamperti, one of the document's signatories, called Paulson a "strange and disappointing choice" for Commencement speaker.
"There are so many far better choices we might have had for people we're honoring and listening to at our Commencement," he said.
In his address, Paulson poked fun at the choice.
"True," he said, "the choice of your commencement speaker does leave something to be desired."
He continued. "Sure, Bill Gates just spoke at Harvard, the University of New Hampshire had two former U.S. presidents, and Howard University welcomed Oprah Winfrey. But remember those students didn't have Tubestock. And neither will any future Dartmouth class."
Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, also offered career advice to the Class of 2007, encouraging graduates to seek jobs that provide them with the opportunity to learn and maintain a global perspective.
Paulson, who was also presented with an honorary Doctor of Law degree, instructed graduates, "value your integrity."
"You are good people, but good people sometimes do bad things," he said, reminding students to ask questions in ethical dilemmas. "Keep your moral compass pointing true North."
The secretary's remarks focused on service, as he pointed to Wright's work with veterans and the Tucker foundation as evidence of Dartmouth's commitment to helping others.
Nelson said he did not hear the speech, though he attended other parts of Sunday's commencement exercises.
"I decided that I didn't want to be there [for the speech]," he said.
After the letter's original presentation to Wright on Friday, several more faculty members signed the document to bring the signatory total to 47. Nelson admitted that the document's signatures don't represent a large fraction of the College's 400-some faculty.
Nelson attributed the participation rate to the fact that the letter was not seen by all members of the faculty, and to a "culture of fear" which he believes may have grown at Dartmouth in the wake of the recent Board of Trustees elections.
"I just sense that to some degree people are afraid," he said. "So they said to me, 'It's not appropriate to do this now because it's going to stir the pot. And if you stir the pot, bad things happen.'"
Nelson said he did not wish for the letter to disrupt the graduation ceremonies, contrasting it with more drastic protests, such as the one seen at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst against former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
About 100 protesters chanted and distributed leaflets in opposition to Card's appearance prior to the university's May 25 commencement exercises. When it came time for Card to receive his degree, hundreds of students and staff " including some faculty seated on stage " jeered for several minutes.
"In no way did I want to do that here at Dartmouth," Nelson said.
