Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on Facebook Saturday that she has backed out of speaking at the Rutgers University commencement this year, after students protested against her appearance.
Accusations on her connections to the war of Iraq were strongly protested by the students, CNN reported.
"Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families," Rice wrote.
"Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time."
"Rutgers Student Protestors" cited "destruction" in Iraq "at the hands of the Bush administration" in an open letter to the president of the school, printed in the student paper The Daily Targum on April 30th.
"Rice signed off to give the CIA authority to conduct their torture tactics for gathering information from detainees as well," the letter continues. "These are clearly human rights issues. By inviting her to speak and awarding her an honorary degree, we are encouraging and perpetuating a world that justifies torture and debases humanity."
Rice, National Security Adviser in 2009, was accused of having approved waterboarding in the questioning of a suspected al Qaeda leader by a Senate intelligence report, according to CNN.
In publicized minutes of the February New Brunswick Faculty Council Meeting, Robert Boikess presented and moved for adoption a Resolution in Opposition to Condoleezza Rice as Commencement Speaker.
"Everything started blowing up when faculty council released their opposition," the editor in chief of The Daily Targum Alexandra R. Meier told CNN Saturday.
In an article published Monday, Lin Lan, a staff writer for the school paper, called the 50 plus student sit in at the President's office one of the largest sit ins in Rutgers history. After a glass door was shattered, police were called to the scene, Lan wrote.
In an article published in the school paper Friday, staff writers Lan and Lidia De Los Santos said nearly 100 students gathered at the student center during a senate meeting that day to question the university president.
President Robert Barchi posted a statement Saturday on the school website in response to Rice.
"While Rutgers University stands fully behind the invitation to Dr. Rice to be our commencement speaker and receive an honorary degree, we respect her decision not to participate in the upcoming Rutgers University commencement, which she clearly articulated in her statement this morning."
Rice wrote Saturday "I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a Professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as its former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."
