No agenda, please

College graduation is supposed to be a great day in a student's life. It is a day for celebrating all the hard work we have put into our education for the last four (or five or six ... ) years. It is a day when the family comes to celebrate, we say goodbye to our best friends and move on to another chapter in our lives. However, many universities, the University of Washington being no exception, use this day as an opportunity to spread propaganda.

Instead of hearing about what a great job we have done in the last chapter of our lives, or what we ought to strive to achieve in the future, this year's graduating class had to sit through a half hour of August Wilson spewing his hatred of the Bush administration. While he never mentioned President Bush by name, nobody in the stadium had any doubt about who he was talking about.

Wilson complained about the war in Iraq. He criticized the Patriot Act and tried to veil his criticism with patriotism by giving lip service to the Constitution and claiming it had been twisted by Bush. He even carefully mentioned the Clinton administration and paused for an applause line so his audience could reminisce about what it was like to have a president who preferred to appease -- not fight -- terrorists.

Some Americans do not think like Wilson. Like many of the families sitting in Husky Stadium on graduation day, they love America. They support President Bush, and they support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they do not believe terrorists are brave souls. I suggest Wilson venture out into the real world (yes, outside of Seattle) and meet some of them.

So, here is my recommendation to whichever committee chooses the graduation speaker: For just one day, forget your political agenda; leave it at home and let next year's graduating students enjoy graduation. It is theirs, not yours.