Opinion: Graduates create an ugly scene

At a recent winter graduation ceremony for students at Cal State Sacramento, the commencement speaker was booed off the stage when she raised questions about the extent to which we should give up our civil liberties in our quest for security. The young people responsible for that ugly scene may have college degrees, but they are utterly ignorant of the traditions and values of individual freedom that define us as a nation.

It didn't take long for the speech given by Janis Besler Heaphy, publisher of the Sacramento Bee, to rile the crowd. Within five minutes of starting, the boos and chants were so incessant she had to sit down without completing her nine-minute address.

Heaphy talked about the terrorist attacks and how we as a nation should respond. You might think that to provoke such a reaction she threw insults at the president and attorney general and denigrated our war against terrorism. But she didn't. In fact, she stated quite clearly that "no one argues the validity and need for both retaliation and security." Then, in a responsible and even-toned manner, Heaphy raised some legitimate questions about some of the administration's antiterrorism policies, including the extended detention of immigrants, racial profiling and expanded wiretapping. A vocal part of the crowd responded by cheering the abuses and then drove Heaphy from the lectern with jeers and foot stomping. Heaphy raised some legitimate questions on which patriotic Americans can disagree. Either the graduates don't believe in free speech or they are seriously lacking in manners. You have to wonder if they even encountered the Bill of Rights in the classroom.

Some members of the audience said afterward that Heaphy's speech was inappropriate for a graduation ceremony because it centered on Sept. 11 as opposed to the typical feel-good, get-out-there-and-be-something, pablum that passes for many commencement addresses.

Come on. Had Heaphy taken a decidedly different tack on the same subject, full of empty platitudes, she would have been applauded, not jeered. It wasn't the subject matter that incensed the crowd. It was her mentioning that there are limits on government power guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. For some reason, America's most precious legacy -- the inalienable rights granted each individual against an arbitrary and abusive government -- is held in contempt by many self-described patriots.

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