
In a continuation of the campus anti-Israel histrionics observed across the country during the past month, some Duke University students decided to walk out of their graduation ceremony when Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld was introduced to give the commencement speech. They earned each and every boo directed at them (boos that NBC News incorrectly reports were aimed at Seinfeld rather than the attention-seeking keffiyeh kids).
Graduations have always been performances (pomp, meet circumstance), and they offer opportunities for schools to tout their value and prestige while top-performing students address their peers. In the past, valedictorians have used their few minutes to inflate themselves and flatter their egos. Now, the limelight capture has become a collective effort for those who wish to do nothing of substance to aid Gazans while making sure their insubstantial digital friends can exalt their “bravery” from afar. What rubbish.
Credit to those in the audience who booed the malcontents. Graduations are not about any one student, especially the type of student who has the time to develop an underdeveloped opinion about a conflict thousands of miles away. I’m of the opinion that any department overrepresented with graduating walkouts should be investigated for academic malpractice by the school administration to answer the question, “How did they manage to pass so many idle idiots?” Graduates from any “studies” discipline should be granted nothing beyond a golf clap — save that metacarpular energy for the STEM graduates who’ll materially improve the world.