"Prisoner, former death row inmate, author and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal will give the commencement speech at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.

The college announced Monday that Abu-Jamal, who received his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard in 1996, was selected by the Fall 2014 graduating class.

Abu-Jamal, 60, was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner. Prosecutors later agreed to a life term after a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing, citing flawed jury instructions.

Since his arrest, Abu-Jamal has gained supporters worldwide who claim he is innocent of the crime and the victim of a racist legal system. Many opponents however, including Faulkner's widow and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, maintain that Abu-Jamal was Faulkner's killer.

Abu-Jamal currently resides at the Mahanoy State Correctional Institution in Frackville, Pa. after he was transferred there from death row in 2012.

Officials at Goddard College say his commencement remarks were prerecorded and will be played along a short video from filmmaker Stephen Vittoria. Vittoria released a documentary on Abu-Jamal titled “Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal” in 2012.

“As a reflection of Goddard’s individualized and transformational educational model, our commencements are intimate affairs where each student serves as her or his own valedictorian, and each class chooses its own speaker,” said Goddard College Interim President Bob Kenny. “Choosing Mumia as their commencement speaker, to me, shows how this newest group of Goddard graduates expresses their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that.”

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/loca...-277536971.html

Vermont, huh? Are they sure he will be radical enough for them?

This is a college? Their website gives me the impression that it is a homeless shelter.

http://www.goddard.edu/

Not exactly cheap, either. One semester, undergraduate, Vermont campus:

BA in Education - Licensure $7,989
BA in Education - Non-licensure $7,369
BA in Health Arts and Sciences $7,369
BA in Individualized Studies $7,369
BA in Psychology $7,989
BA in Sustainability $7,369
BFA in Creative Writing $7,989

Wow, I sure would like to have me one of them there degrees in "Sustainability". Bet I could get a first class job at McDonalds with that baby. I also note with pride that Goddard has 2 campuses located here in WA, Port Townsend and Seattle. I must take a campus tour.

Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #5

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Not exactly cheap, either. One semester, undergraduate, Vermont campus:

BA in Education - Licensure $7,989
BA in Education - Non-licensure $7,369
BA in Health Arts and Sciences $7,369
BA in Individualized Studies $7,369
BA in Psychology $7,989
BA in Sustainability $7,369
BFA in Creative Writing $7,989

Wow, I sure would like to have me one of them there degrees in "Sustainability". Bet I could get a first class job at McDonalds with that baby. I also note with pride that Goddard has 2 campuses located here in WA, Port Townsend and Seattle. I must take a campus tour.

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