2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Opinion
Bernstein is the epitome of a great speaker
In response to Mr. Mahajan's letter in Wednesday's Diamondback entitled "Better luck next year," I would be remiss not to comment about Carl Bernstein, an ideal choice for commencement speaker.
As commencement speaker chair, the class of 2008 and the university have charged the Senior Council and me with choosing a keynote speaker. After mulling over several worthy candidates, we decided an ideal speaker is someone who is not only well known and respected, but also someone who can appeal to multiple generations, a person graduates will learn from and our parents will admire. Mr. Bernstein is exactly that candidate.
We live in a time when use and abuse of presidential power has perhaps never been so high. Mr. Bernstein made his name reporting about the ills of such misuse. Now that we are in an election year, his story and accomplishments have never been so relevant. The fact he is affiliated with the university only makes this selection better.
Furthermore, saying Mr. Bernstein is a very nice man who helped expose Watergate degrades his contribution to American history. The belief that many in the class of 2008 do not know who he is shows a deep distrust in the intelligence of the senior class.
If you seek to hear Jerry Seinfeld, I heard he might be playing in Atlantic City in the near future. If you want to be inspired by one of this country's most influential citizens, I urge you to come to commencement and listen to the words of Mr. Bernstein, an honor that I will certainly never forget.
Robert Toll
Commencement Speaker Chair
Class of 2008
In response to Mr. Mahajan's letter in Wednesday's Diamondback entitled "Better luck next year," I would be remiss not to comment about Carl Bernstein, an ideal choice for commencement speaker.
As commencement speaker chair, the class of 2008 and the university have charged the Senior Council and me with choosing a keynote speaker. After mulling over several worthy candidates, we decided an ideal speaker is someone who is not only well known and respected, but also someone who can appeal to multiple generations, a person graduates will learn from and our parents will admire. Mr. Bernstein is exactly that candidate.
We live in a time when use and abuse of presidential power has perhaps never been so high. Mr. Bernstein made his name reporting about the ills of such misuse. Now that we are in an election year, his story and accomplishments have never been so relevant. The fact he is affiliated with the university only makes this selection better.
Furthermore, saying Mr. Bernstein is a very nice man who helped expose Watergate degrades his contribution to American history. The belief that many in the class of 2008 do not know who he is shows a deep distrust in the intelligence of the senior class.
If you seek to hear Jerry Seinfeld, I heard he might be playing in Atlantic City in the near future. If you want to be inspired by one of this country's most influential citizens, I urge you to come to commencement and listen to the words of Mr. Bernstein, an honor that I will certainly never forget.
Robert Toll
Commencement Speaker Chair
Class of 2008
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Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
J
posted 5/08/08 @ 10:42 AM EST
Finally, an intelligent letter! The Senior Council did a great job choosing a worthy speaker. Mahajan's letter yesterday and the comments agreeing with it were hilariously delusional, but mostly just incredibly sad. (Continued…)
Jon
posted 5/08/08 @ 4:44 PM EST
Robert Toll clearly does not know his senior class members as from hearing others around campus speak about the graduation, the majority don't care for bernstein. (Continued…)
Kon the Lion
posted 5/09/08 @ 10:21 AM EST
Jon S, You're ignorant. You claim to know what the majority of senior class students want. If this "majority" that you ostensibly represent don't fucking care for Carl Bernstein, then it shouldn't fucking matter whether or not he is your commencement speaker does it? Perhaps the fact that these senior class members don't care for Bernstein shows that the only thing they learned during their college years were how to drink and fuck. (Continued…)
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