Common Sense: Rutgers intolerance

The student and facility protestors at Rutgers University who recently succeeded in causing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cancel a commencement speech showed a deplorable lack of tolerance for opposing views. Frankly, these graduates have a lot to learn.

It is ironic that Rice, an academic at heart, who once was a dean at Stanford University and currently is a Stanford professor, should be treated with such disdain by a university community that she felt the need to take such a drastic action in order to avoid, as she put it, becoming a distraction.

Frankly, this accomplished woman who was the nation’s first female minority Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, could have imparted to the graduates some real wisdom. Instead, the graduates of the Class of 2014 can look forward to the distinction that most of the country criticized their actions. Maybe it will just be a footnote on their days at Rutgers, but one I think they will not recall fondly.

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Speaking of graduates who seemed to have learned nothing in school, 62 graduating seniors at New Jersey’s Teaneck High School were arrested for a midnight rampage through the school in which they caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of property damage. As of this writing, the authorities and school district are attempting to determine what consequences will be imposed on the students.

Personally, I would allow them to graduate and move on with their lives only after they completed a full summer of unpaid community service in Teaneck. If that means the cancellation of a vacation trip or other summer plans, so be it. The lessons learned and the justice done more than compensate.

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The Southwest Brooklyn Conservative Party Club will be holding an event to commemorate New York State Tax Freedom Day on Thursday, May 22at 7:30 p.m. on the lower level at Hall of Fame Billiards, 505 Ovington Avenue. All are welcome.

Tax Freedom Day in New York — which is the day New Yorkers have theoretically earned enough money to pay all their taxes for the year — was actually Sunday, May 4. New York’s Tax Freedom Day is the 48^th latest in the nation, with only New jersey and Connecticut’s being later (May 9).

The Conservative Party, which is the original Tea Party but with a more comprehensive agenda, has been holding events to mark this important date for a number of years. Unfortunately in all that time, regardless of the governor’s political rhetoric. New York’s position as one of the nation’s most costly states to live in and do business in has barely changed.

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The Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade fundraiser put on by Frankie Marra at Salty Dog recently was a great success, if attendance and a good time are any measure. As usual, there were literally hundreds of neighborhood people who dropped by for a few minutes or a few hours to enjoy the non- stop music being played for a great cause.

Many elected officials like State Senator Marty Golden, Assemblymembers Alec Brook-Krasny and Nicole Malliotakis and City Councilmember Vincent Gentile dropped by to lend their support.

Of course, the parade will run along Third Avenue starting around 88^th Street and marching to John Paul Jones Park on Monday, Memorial Day, May 26^th beginning at 11 a.m.