Agree with everything you said. I, too, skipped all of my graduation ceremonies. The players at Cookman really take pride in it, as they should, as most of them faced a far tougher battle growing up and getting to college than I did.
The Cal (and other schools) incidents are disheartening. I understand not allowing a voice for the hate spewed by some of the invited speakers, but at the same time, I think showing that those views are still out there is important. I have no problem with the protests against the speakers coming, but they need to find a way to make it safe for all.
The Cookman administration knew what they were doing. It is the same thing they do when they have their annual award ceremony. In those, they invite successful businessmen/politicians and grant them honorary degrees as well as bronzed face plates. It is a big pay-per-plate gala where a handful of successful people - many with absolutely no ties to Cookman - are honored. A couple of years ago, one of the honorees was the governor of Florida. Turning that down is almost political suicide. You can't shun an HBCU like that. Yet, if he shows up and is honored, he can't screw them on the annual budget. He will allocate what they want for funding. And the businessmen who are honored can't exactly have this big gala in their honor and then not write a check in the future. It is all a sham for money.
On a related note, I received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. Attorneys in Florida and Iowa carbon copied me on a letter that they sent to a group of defense attorneys and the appropriate court. In it, they said they were flying to Texas to depose me in early June. A former white softball coach at Cookman has multiple pending suits against the school. She had won three or four straight conference championships. Right before the conference tournament started, with her team once again in first place, she was terminated for some bogus reason.
It was strange to receive, as nobody has reached out to me about this from any side. It wasn't a subpoena, but rather a notice of deposition. They had set a date, a time, and location, yet nobody asked me if I would be available and/or willing. I still haven't heard from anybody other than the letter the complainant's attorneys sent me.
