Intellectual Property Law

Commencement Speakers and Signals

By Tim Armstrong, Derek Bambauer, and William McGeveran.

What does it mean if you invite John McCain to speak at your school’s commencement?

For one thing, it means your dean is smart enough to want news coverage with lots of shots of your school’s logo. But does it mean your institution agrees with any / all of McCain’s positions?

I was pondering this question after reading a piece in the Boston Globe about pressure on Catholic colleges and universities to invite speakers who hold positions amenable to church doctrine. (Sorry, John Kerry and Rudy Giuliani!) This seemed narrow-minded; part of the mission of an educational institution is to encourage, even foster, debate and disagreement. Yet the concern seems to be that inviting speakers with views at odds with Catholic teachings would be perceived either as implicit endorsement of those positions or, perhaps more mildly, a de-emphasis of the importance of following the Church’s rules. (Full disclosure: I went to a Catholic high school, which I loved, and which was absolutely devoted to scholarly inquiry and freedom.)

So, I felt admirably open-minded. But a minor controversy at my current institution, Wayne State, made me think harder about the issue. The law school invited Michigan Supreme Court justice Maura Corrigan to receive an honorary degree. The furor: Justice Corrigan joined the majority opinion in National Pride at Work v. Governor of Michigan (thanks, Prawfsblawg!), which held that Michigan’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage or civil unions also prohibits public employers from offering benefits, such as health care, to the domestic partners of employees. The court relied on the “plain meaning” of the amendment’s text in its ruling. Some at WSU decided not to attend graduation based on the conferral of the honorary degree, for two reasons: first, disagreement with the outcome of the case, and second, strong disagreement with the majority’s legal reasoning. The question became: does offering Justice Corrigan an honorary degree imply endorsement of her legal reasoning, the court’s opinion, or a particular view on same-sex benefits? (Particularly when the opinion came down less than a week before graduation.) A number of my colleagues wrestled with that one.

I’m of two minds about this.

Full post as published by Info/Law on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).