So we at Innermost Parts heard that Jehuda’s commencement speech was pretty bad, to put it mildly. Was anyone there? What did you think?
How was Corey Booker?
Jehuda’s commencement address
So we at Innermost Parts heard that Jehuda’s commencement speech was pretty bad, to put it mildly. Was anyone there? What did you think?
How was Corey Booker?
Its a minor miracle Jehuda even bothered to show up and did not play a pre-recorded speech as he did for our freshman orientation ( Class of 2010). I hope the resignation rumors are true!
Phenomenal speech. Stood up to the extremists who too often speak loudly enough to appear to some to be a majority.
oh and i thought Corey Booker was great. Matt is right, some of his imagery was a bit overblown, but I really liked his message and his style. In five or ten years we’ll be really excited that he spoke at our commencement.
I was disappointed in Jehuda’s speech. He spent the vast majority of his talk speaking about how great the university is, how well it (read: he) is handling the crisis, how transparent the restructuring has been, etc. The only thing he said about us, the actual graduates, was that we should save money.
I think Jehuda’s talk was when we all tuned out and examined our programs. The very unsubstantiated rumors I’ve heard about him either resigning or being forced out would reinterpret this speech as a last public defense of his record– it will be very interesting to see what happens on that front in the next couple of months.
He did process in to a jazzed-up version of Hava Nagila, if that helped at all.
Corey Booker was great but was about ten minutes too long, especially on the “be the change you wish to see in the world” front. However his personal stories were gripping.
Balloon drop got axed, also missing was the part when they tell us to move our tassles from one side of our hat to the other. Oh budget cuts, how I wish you could have taken VoiceMale’s Alma Mater rendition with you…
Corey Booker was good. A bit self-aggrandizing, perhaps and given to tired imagery, but suitably inspiring and an excellent speaker.
Jehuda’s speech actually made me facepalm. To quote someone I was with, “He’s not going to go there… he went there.”
His speech was heavily devoted to portraying his actions in the last few months as a tragic consequence of forces beyond his control. He leavened it with some comments, a few tongue-in-cheek, about donating. I wish I could blame all of this on the hidden hand of Rasky Baerlein, but it might just be him.
Even his remarks directed at the graduating class contained a sizable amount of spin. He said that the economic crisis has taught us the need to save money, then segued quickly into a discussion of the earlier economic boom and all the wonderful things the University did under his guidance, including saving money for later. I really don’t remember much else of the speech, because I had other things to do, though.