I want to start out by saying that I’m a Democrat. I supported Hillary Clinton in her Senate bid in 2000, and will again in 2006, should she choose to run for re-election. For the most part, I’ve supported your decisions here at Rensselaer since I arrived in the Fall of 2001, but I can’t support your decision to have Senator Clinton here as our commencement speaker.

To me, the choice of speaker should not be a question of politics. A person should be invited to speak at Commencement to offer words of advice and encouragement to the outgoing class, as they commence the rest of their ongoing education, and as they enter the working world. They should not, however, be used as a political statement to further any extra goals or agendas.

I don’t know what goals or agendas you may or may not have, but I do know that Senator Clinton is an extremely controversial person. From the moment she announced her candidacy to run for office, people all over the country have been arguing with each other about her motives and ideals. For whatever reasons they may have, a lot of people in the country, let alone New York state or even RPI, simply hate her.

Whether you have used the choice of Senator Clinton to bring the Institute esteem and fame, I don’t know. If you have used it to increase alumni giving or make our school more attractive to prospective students, I can’t say. But to me, as a current student and senior, I know that this has outraged people on campus, and a lot of seniors, several of my friends included, have pledged to never give to Rensselaer or even attend their own Commencement.

I think the students should have a say in who speaks for their Commencement. I think it’s too late to go through all the candidates again, but I, for one, would rather have no speaker and graduate with my class than have Senator Clinton speak with my friends and classmates upset or missing. We should put it to a vote, a referendum during the GM week elections, in which seniors can vote—yes, or no—on whether or not Senator Clinton should speak. I think that’s the only fair way to do it, and I think the Senator herself would agree with me that that would be the best solution.

From the kids who sweated through each and every one of their classes, to the student-athletes who have gone on to records and titles, to those student-employees who have worked to better campus as members of FYE, Residence Life, or Admissions, this day is about them. It’s about their time here; a celebration of what they have done. To many, however, the choice of Senator Clinton is a slap in the face on what should be their day.

I think that it would be a crying shame to go ahead as is. To stop even some of our seniors from enjoying that day to their fullest degree is deplorable. I know I won’t be able to. I’ll go no matter who speaks, but we got here as a class, and we should all leave together.

Vidhu S. Pandey