Pure politics

The students and faculty who oppose the selection of former Attorney General Michael Mukasey as the UNC School of Law's 2009 commencement speaker should put politics aside and hear the man out.

For a University that portents to be a bastion of free speech and intellectual diversity the very thought of denying someone the right to speak should be unheard of.

In January" this board made the same argument in favor of religious studies professor Carl Ernst's much-criticized decision to accept an Iranian award presented by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sometimes you have to check political beliefs at the door.

Commencement speaker is a unique honor that shouldn't be awarded frivolously.

Selecting a speaker for commencement in many ways constitutes an endorsement of that speaker.

But it's hard to see how a former U.S. Attorney General with more than 20 years of public service and numerous awards under his belt is anything less than an amazing get for law school commencement speaker.

Unless the opposition is political.

Most of the criticism surrounding Mukasey's selection stems from his time in the Bush administration when as Attorney General he declined to state on record whether or not waterboarding was a form of torture.

Some critics say this one act precludes Mukasey from the honor of commencement speaker and that he doesn't reflect the moral values of the law school or its students.

This is nonsense.

Mukasey's selection doesn't validate torture of Guantanamo prisoners any more than Ernst's award acceptance validates the stoning of adulterers in Iran.

The legal nuances of ""enhanced interrogation"" are certainly debatable. But to assert that one man's opinion — or refusal to opine — on a certain topic precludes him from speaking is to prohibit debate altogether.

Students criticizing the lack of input in the decision-making process would have a stronger case if they had voiced concerns before the selection was made.

As it is" the opposition is too little too late and entirely political.

This year's law school graduates will be fortunate to have careers as distinguished as Mukasey's.

They would do well not to let their preconceptions drown out what he has to say.