[See this post for background.]
… Smith College graduates will be deprived of the thoughts of Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund. She withdrew this week, under pressure from people who object to the I.M.F.’s role in the “strengthening of imperialist and patriarchal systems.” So, one of the world’s most powerful women will not share insights with one of the nation’s most prominent women’s colleges because of a concern about patriarchy. Evil men — that’ll show ’em.
Instead of Lagarde, the intrepid people at Smith will get arguably the most parochial speaker available: An ex-president of their own school. As for her advice on resisting patriarchy: Be Lloyd Blankfein’s toady…?
May 16th, 2014 at 2:00PM
Up to my own senior year at Rice we observed a tradition of no commencement speaker. I’m sure it was the cranky personal decision of our first president, Edgar Odell Lovett, who also instituted a pledge to neither form nor join a secret society other than Phi Beta Kappa. However, this policy meant that an 80 degree outdoor ceremony in Houston, TX, took the shortest time possible until my year. I forget the name of the alum former editor of Newsweek (sad how the mighty fall, hunh?), but I still resent my graduation lasting 40 minutes longer than any I had attended before.