Too much to bear

The real reason people like Sacramento Bee Publisher Janis Heaphy are getting a poor reception these days has nothing to do with a desire on the part of ordinary Americans to suppress civil liberties or otherwise harm themselves or their fellow man.Americans should be congratulated and commended for their restraint and objectivity in the aftermath of Sept.11. Instead, self-righteous and sanctimonious scolds such as Heapy seek to inflate their own self-esteem by delivering insufferably patronizing lectures to us from their supposed position of superior moral virtue.

It is too much to bear, and it should not be borne. The heckling Heaphy received was well-merited and ought to be an occasion for her to examine seriously her assumption that she is in a position to tell her fellow citizens what to think and how to behave when in fact they are thinking and behaving remarkably well in the face of an unparalleled assault upon America.Heaphy owes the University audience an apology for her effrontery in talking down to them and their families and also for implying that her countrymen are ignorant, vicious and politically unsophisticated peasants who must be instructed by the likes of her in matters of justice and decency.

Johannes Silentio

By now the abridged speech of Janis Heaphy is history. A few more experiences like this and a lot of other things might be ancient history, e.g. freedom of speech. I don’t mean your freedom to speak my ideology, in public forums and in academic institutions worthy of the name, I mean your freedom to speak, period. The youthful Nazis in the audience that prevented the audience as a whole from hearing Heaphy?s thoughtful talk chiseled away at the right we all possess to express viewpoints that may clash with the majority take on an issue. Perhaps your student journalists can begin to restore some of the honor of your institution as a place where all (who have the courage) can learn from what they might consider some unlikely sources.

Al Parmenter Peoria, Ariz.

Way to go, Gerth

I would like to publicly thank President Donald Gerth for his actions taken during Janis Heaphy’s speech.

I also want to make clear that disapproval of the content of her “commencement speech” was not limited to the audience, but was shared and vocalized by many of the graduates.

Acting as the consummate teacher, Gerth cut short a speech for the same reason a speech would be cut short in a presentation class. It was inflammatory, off topic and not audience appropriate.As I sat listening to a speech telling me what to think and how to act, I reflected about what I had been taught in college. The necessity to think critically and independently.

Up on her soapbox, Heaphy went too far by espousing partisan political views and casting moral judgements; definitely not commencement ceremony material. Her speech was as topic appropriate to a Sacramento State graduation as would have been the topics of gay rights or abortion. She should save it for political fund-raisers or demonstrations at the Capitol.

Thank you once again, Gerth, for standing up for our right to think critically and independently by terminating the situation?s inappropriate rhetoric.

The President stated the he will remember this graduation for a long time, I hope all who were present will remember this final lesson of the semester in Presentation Skills 101.

Joseph L. FairchildM.B.A.

Got to go, Gerth

I was present to support someone special at the graduation ceremony last month. It was a total embarrassment to the California State University system, the parents, the friends, the families, and to, most importantly, the graduates. I would like to submit this statement to the Sacramento State board and faculty for their consideration.

To President Donald Gerth, I say this might be a good time to step down from your position. His actions were an embarrassment to the University and to the California educational system. A graduation ceremony is to honor the graduates, to congratulate the families and friends, and to “sell” the university system. Gerth, as the President of a business like Sac State, must promote the desire or need for the students to return to seek graduate level education, and to create the desire for other family members to attend the school. Once you’ve lost sight of those critical values, you are not able to act in the schools best interest and, therefore, he should leave.

The speaker, Sacramento Bee Publisher Janis Heaphy had no business making that speech at a graduation ceremony. She was wrong. She and Gerth both owe the students, parents, friends, families, Sac State and the CSU system an apology. She needs to realize that there is a time and place for everything. She was not heckled, as reported by the Sacramento Bee. She was strongly requested to sit down.

Jeff Keeton

The Future

I have worked my entire life and did not have an opportunity to attend college, but made sure our two children did. So I absolutely respect every student at your school, trudging too and putting up with people like your recent commencement speaker, Sacramento Bee Publisher Janis Heaphy. As a national talk show host said, Heaphy was “a third rate newspaper with a fourth rate publisher giving a pep talk on what’s wrong with America.” Only the students at Sacramento State were too smart for her old and very tired rhetoric and turned off. Why is this so? It’s because you come from a hard working, blue-collar background and not from the privileged environment like the American media espouses to be. You at Sac State, not Berkeley and not Harvard are the future of this country.

Robert McShaneScottsdale, Ariz.

Orwellian warning

I caught wind of how the students reacted to the Janis Besler Heaphy speech and it is sad.

There was a time when someone would stand up in front of a crowd and say, “black folks should have the same civil rights as all other people in America,” and receive the exact same jeering. I have never heard of Heaphy before reading about the flap. I did read the transcript of her speech. I have researched the material she discussed, again before I ever heard of this person, and there is nothing unpatriotic in the message. In fact, in my belief, the American founders would also be questioning the actions of the federal government. By the way, the heat was on them much more than what is on us today.

What is more disturbing are the actions of the students. Regardless if Heaphy is “right” or “wrong,” the fact these particular students will not tolerate any thinking outside the mainstream is scary unto itself. Do these kids really want an Orwellian society this bad?

John HousandPhotojournalist New York