A highly accomplished black woman was invited to give a commencement speech at a university.  And then the faculty of the university where the highly accomplished black woman was going to give this speech began protesting.  In fact, they were so obnoxious about their objection that the highly accomplished black woman decided to withdraw from giving the speech.

Now, let us imagine for a moment that the black woman involved was Valerie Jarrett.  I can hear the screams of “racism” from all the news outlets already.

But this situation is not about Valerie Jarrett.  It is about someone even MORE accomplished – Condoleezza Rice.

Dr. Rice was scheduled to give the commencement speech on May 18th at Rutgers University.  The Rutgers faculty, along with some student groups, protested the selection of Dr. Rice as commencement speaker because of her so-called “war crimes” related to the war in Iraq.  Today, Dr. Rice released this statement:

Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families. Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time.

I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America’s belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a Professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as it’s former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way.

Good luck to the graduates and congratulations to the families, friends and loved ones who will gather to honor them.

Predictably, the faculty and student groups started cheering about their “win”:

.@KellyHeyboer Huge win!! @CondoleezzaRice cancelled in face of faculty & student protests http://t.co/R6pmov24Y2 @PrecariousFac @AFLCIO

— Rutgers AAUP-AFT (@ruaaup) May 3, 2014

Other students, however, let the university know just how mad they were.  Unfortunately, one student who posted an angry rant that was captured by Twitchy has a broken Twitter account at the moment.  Whether he disabled it or deleted it, I don’t know.

Whether you disagree with her or not, Condoleezza Rice is a highly accomplished woman with a long list of credentials that speak to her intelligence and public service.  Her decision to step aside from the Rutgers commencement was done in the classiest possible manner.  Rutgers, however, has egg on its face.  They have embarrassed themselves by allowing their FACULTY to act like the intolerant and racist people that they are.  And yes, I can call them intolerant and racist.  They are intolerant because they refuse to listen to a person with an opposing viewpoint.  They are racist because – well, that’s what they would have said about another school’s faculty protesting Valerie Jarrett or Michelle Obama coming to give a commencement speech.

And for a faculty all worked up about “war crimes,” they sure didn’t have a problem letting Hillary Clinton speak back in 2007… AFTER she voted for the Iraq War.  To get all high and mighty about Condi Rice seems rather hypocritical, no?

And for a university who paid Snooki to come and give speeches back in 2011… you sure have a lot of nerve.  Good luck finding a commencement speaker now.