Brandeis University’s selection of Israel’s ambassador to Washington as its commencement speaker has elicited responses ranging from enthusiastic support to wary apprehension to outrage.
Neither Ambassador Michael Oren nor the suburban Boston university are strangers to such controversies.
Oren was at the center of a debate over free speech after hecklers were arrested for repeatedly disrupting his address at the U.C. Irvine in February. And Brandeis drew heat in some circles in 2006 for giving an honorary degree to Tony Kushner, with critics citing the playwright’s statement that “it would have been better if Israel never happened.”
Some of those criticizing Oren’s selection cite the policies of the Israeli government that he represents. Others say the selection of Oren was unsuitable for an ideologically diverse student body and inevitably would become a distraction, drawing the focus away from graduating seniors. — jta