[1520] in peace2
Wolfensohn's commencement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sanjay Basu)
Fri Mar 1 07:17:21 2002
Message-Id: <200203011217.HAA13559@melbourne-city-street.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 07:17:03 -0500
To: peace-announce@mit.edu, hemisphere-admin@mit.edu, utr-announce@mit.edu
From: Sanjay Basu <sanjayb@MIT.EDU>
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Thanks,
sanjay
_______________________________________________
To members of the MIT administration and corporation:
The recent decision to invite James Wolfensohn, President of the World
Bank, to speak at MIT's 2002 Commencement represents a serious problem to
much of the senior class and others at the Institute. While MIT has
previously invited numerous world leaders who represent diverse viewpoints
and receive strong criticisms for their work, Wolfensohn and his
organization directly marginalize the viewpoints of a significant portion
of the students graduating this year, as well as a significant portion of
the MIT community at large.
While President Vest is correct in stating that previous speakers have
"been treated respectfully by our community," what is ignored in his
statement is that Wolfensohn and the World Bank have consistently
disrespected the viewpoints of many members of the MIT community as well as
the world at large. An enormous proportion of the world's population has
been affected by the Bank's policies under Wolfensohn's direction, but has
been consistently left out of the decision-making process. President Vest
has portrayed this commencement address as a means for discussion and
debate, but that is precisely what a commencement address is not. It is a
speech by a singular individual meant to symbolize the character and future
of the MIT class. It leaves no room for debate or discussion. Inviting
Wolfensohn to perform in the role of commencement speaker fails to present
the viewpoints of much of our community at our own graduation ceremony.
Even those who agree with the World Bank's policies under Wolfensohn, or
have no opinion concerning them, are worried because Wolfensohn's presence
turns commencement from a celebration into an event warranting mass
protest. His previous appearances have turned to street theater, and
commencement is ideally not an event that should spark protest.
We wish that Wolfensohn be removed from the position of this year's
commencement speaker. If the totally untransparent decision to invite him
is not revocable, we wish that MIT's administrators would think more
carefully when inviting future speakers to commencement, and that the views
of the students are not marginalized at their own graduation ceremonies.
Sincerely,
<signatories>
------------------------------------------------------
Sanjay Basu
MIT
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