2008 Woodie Awards
Students have mixed feelings about grad speaker
Karl Lang
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Congressman Tom Latham will be the commencement speaker during Simpson's graduation ceremony on May 20.
"Congressman Latham has established himself as one of Iowa's most effective representatives," President John Byrd, whose idea it was to invite Latham, said. "He's considered a champion of agriculture, small-business owners, seniors, taxpayers and higher education in general. We note with pride that two of his children attended Simpson. He knows us and appreciates the high quality of education our students receive."
Latham has been a representative for north-central Iowa since 1995, according to a press release issued by the college.
Currently, Latham represents Iowa's Fourth Congressional District of 28 counties, including Warren.
Some students aren't as enthusiastic about the college's decision to bring Latham to campus as Byrd. Some, like senior Ashley McGraw, aren't sure a politician should be speaking at graduation.
"It should have been somebody we would know more about," McGraw said. "I don't know much about who he is, really. It would have been better to bring in somebody that we would have more of a connection with."
According to Michael Adams, assistant vice president and director of public relations, it is not an uncommon practice to have a politician as a commencement speaker.
"It was [President Byrd's] idea to bring Congressman Latham to speak at Simpson," Adams said. "We have had politicians in the past to give speeches here. We have also had a very bi-partisan approach to folks that we have had speak here. We have gone back and forth [between parties]. There has not been any hesitation to approach some of these folks to speak. We try to mix it up, and we've had journalists and politicians, writers and business people before."
Some students still don't feel connected to this year's speaker, including senior Alaina Decker.
"I don't know that much about him, really," Decker said. "So I can't be too excited about it. I mean, I know who he is, but not much else about him."
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/20/06 @ 4:36 AM CST
Latham?? Out of all the possible people that would be good speakers, why could Simpson not find a more "neutral" speaker, rather than one from a particular political party? I'm not looking forward to it at all. (Continued…)
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/21/06 @ 8:25 PM CST
If you would look beyond your partisan tunnel-vision and think about it, Latham is probably not going to come to graduation and start on partisan political rants about how Democrats should not be supporting partial birth abortion or something. (Continued…)
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/23/06 @ 1:14 PM CST
Democrat or Republican, this guy is boring. I heard him during his last campaign. This doesn't strike me as a Simpson send-off.
Graduate
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/23/06 @ 3:21 PM CST
Mixed feelings?! I'd call it mainly anger and frustration at Simpson. Why does the president and board of trustees solidify the speaker for graduation? Shouldn't it be the graduating class?!
Yikes
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/23/06 @ 5:28 PM CST
James Joy: It isn't necessarily that I'd think he'd start talking about political issues, but the fact that now Simpson has 'advertised' a speaker from a particular party to hundreds, if not thousands, of people to speak at such a huge event. (Continued…)
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 4/24/06 @ 12:49 AM CST
I agree, students should be involved and then there would not be these surprises. But this is who we have so we should show respect to him regardless of our political affiliations. (Continued…)
anonymous1080
anonymous1080
posted 5/05/06 @ 6:16 PM CST
I will fall asleep when he speaks. The words, "poor choice" do not begin to describe how I feel about him as a speaker.
December Grad
Zzzz@yahoo. (Continued…)
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