Twenty-five years ago, UA welcomed Vivian Malone Jones to deliver a commencement address. Jones was one of the two courageous Black students who enrolled at the Capstone in 1963 and was blocked at the doorway to Foster Auditorium by segregationist Gov. George Wallace. Wallace delivered a speech, largely written by Ku Klux Klan member Asa Earl Carter, denouncing the federal government’s effort to integrate Alabama’s schools.
In her speech, Jones reflected on the changes she had seen the University make since her graduation in 1965. She was proud of the University’s recognition that it needed to grow, that even after making massive strides, it knew it had much more to do to serve the state and be an institution for all people. At the end, she called upon the graduating students to prepare themselves to have the courage to stand up for justice when they were called upon.
“You will just as certainly face moral choices. There will come a day in your life when you must act for others — your family, perhaps your community — and you must be ready,” Jones said. “So take from all the books you have read, all the lessons you learned, the certain knowledge that one day, any day, you must be bold, have courage, and walk through a door that leads to opportunity for others.”
In spring 2007, the University hosted its last commencement speaker to date, businessman and former EBSCO president of the board James T. Stephens. Stephens was booed by the crowd and cut his remarks short after speaking out against America’s involvement in the Iraq War and the innocent civilians who died as a result. The administration made a choice then to stop inviting a graduation speaker to every undergraduate ceremony since, to avoid a similar disturbance overshadowing the accomplishments of those walking across the stage.
On Tuesday, the University confirmed in an email to students that President Donald Trump would give a commencement address on the Thursday of graduation weekend. The administration has effectively preempted commencement, turning a time of celebration, accomplishment and catharsis for so many students into a national media spectacle. No doubt, Trump’s visit will further divide this campus and paint an embarrassing picture of the University when so many students want to celebrate their alma mater.
What is so remarkable is the cowardice on display by the UA System Board of Trustees and UA administration by allowing graduation weekend to turn into an extended MAGA rally. Right now, Alireza Doroudi is being held without bond by ICE in Louisiana on no charges, with no evidence of criminal activity or any involvement in protests. Doroudi was snatched from his apartment in Tuscaloosa almost a month ago, targeted and arrested by this administration for nothing but his country of origin. The Trump administration is holding a University of Alabama student captive, and instead of defending its student, the University has chosen instead to let his captor speak next week.
The Board of Trustees will hide behind a resolution it passed last September codifying a policy of institutional neutrality on political or social issues. But this invitation is anything but neutral. It is an abdication of the board’s responsibility to protect its students and to defend the very principles of free and open education that the University is based upon.
Almost simultaneous with the University’s confirmation of Trump’s address today, a letter titled A Call for Constructive Engagement was released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Signed by the leaders of over 200 colleges, universities and scholarly societies nationwide, the letter condemns the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education and pledges that these institutions will stand behind educational freedom and open inquiry. Absent from the list was Stuart Bell, president of The University of Alabama, despite the University being an AAC&U member.
Standing up for justice is not always easy, especially in Alabama. The greatest parts of UA history, however, are moments when people, in the face of great adversity and public pressure, took up the call and were willing to put themselves on the line for what they knew was right. Autherine Lucy Foster, Vivian Malone Jones, and James Alexander Hood were threatened with violence and verbal abuse; Foster and Hood were driven from campus altogether. But today their courage and memory is honored, while their oppressors are relegated to the dustbin of history.
The University today has a choice: courage or cowardice. Does it have the courage to reverse course, to stand behind the most vulnerable members of its student body and disinvite Trump as a graduation speaker? Or will it allow this unifying moment of pride for all students to be perverted into a divisive assault on civil liberties and the exercise of free thought?
Stuart Bell: This is your last semester as the president of this university. How do you want to be remembered? In 10 or 20 years, will you be remembered as a man of principle, or a man who shirked his responsibility and abandoned his students? Only time will tell.
Joe Hoffman graduated from the University in 2024 with a Master of Public Administration degree.
