The fight against James Franco as this year’s commencement speaker has gained national attention. The UCLA Class of 2009 is livid, and rightfully so, that former classmate will be its keynote speaker. UC Merced has Michelle Obama, and we have the guy that sat in the back of our English class in between shooting his award-nominated movies.
James Franco is a good-looking and admirable actor (with the exception of his performance in “Tristan and Isolde,” but “Milk” was pretty good).
However, as a very recent Bruin and a current student, can Franco really enlighten newly exiting Bruins about the real world?
A commencement speaker does not have to be a Nobel Prize winner or a rocket scientist, but a guest speaker should have the life experiences that come with age.
Franco’s experiences, as cool and unique as they are, are not particularly applicable to graduating Bruins.
Sure, he can discuss the transition into graduate school, but we can ask our friends about that.
Also there aren’t many Bruins pursuing acting and therefore not many who would find his advice on acting very helpful. And the glamorous life of an actor may only create envy rather than inspiration.
Franco is an extremely talented individual, and we are proud to have him in the Bruin family.
But we don’t feel he is as esteemed as a commencement speaker of UCLA’s caliber should be.
Michelle Obama, however, has a national presence and a life that provides the potential we are looking for: She has become a role model, not only as a wife and mother, but also as a black woman who struggled against stereotyping under a national microscope.
The anger about this decision has warranted a Facebook group with hundreds of students, who agree that Franco is not the best choice.
This is the second year that the commencement speaker at UCLA has disappointed Bruins.
Last year, former President Bill Clinton was supposed to speak; however, the union strike of UC workers and its potential to harm his reputation affected his participation.
His last-minute rejection meant that the student body was left dejected and the administration struggling for a substitute, who ended up being our USAC president, Gabe Rose, a graduating senior.
He did a good enough job, considering the circumstances.
However, a student acting as a keynote speaker for a graduation is an oxymoron. We’re all in the same boat.
Franco would be a wonderful speaker once he has more perspective than a recent graduate.
But it’ll take more than a few weeks for him to gain the wisdom that graduating Bruins deserve.
Thus, we question the administration’s choice of Franco.
It seems that the commencement selection board was suddenly taken over by a gaggle of love-starved tweens or a bunch of junior high potheads who loved “Pineapple Express.”
The Editorial Board therefore ends with a simple and serious question: “Hey Merced, wanna trade?”
Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board.
600 protestors, not all students, out of roughly 43,000 total students enrolled at UCLA had a problem with a pop idol, self made entrepreneur, producer, actor etc. Etc. Etc. being the speaker for their graduation because his “caliber” was questionable? This is the new age of “justify anything.” It is shameful that supposedly educated people do not see this as discrimination as well as enigmatic snobbery. The excuse was that he was too much a peer and had not accomplished anything with his degree. So why let any of the graduating class speak? Why let anyone speak at all, ever? Perfection is a fools quest and being critical for the sake of being so is mental illness. I suppose that if a foreign film star with an accent agreed to speak their caliber would not be in question. I will now diagnose this illness as low self esteem inferiority complex. What is alarming is that those students that protested will carry that brand of poison and distribute irrational, incorrect values naively proud of their ignorance. It is so disappointing when people are so blindly judgemental. I’m guessing that many good causes went unprotested at that college.