Commencement speaker Ben Stein and the Intelligent Design flap: is any publicity good publicity?

February 18, 11:19 AMCollege Admissions ExaminerLauren Starkey

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The University of Vermont announced recently that actor, economist, former game show host, and proponent of Intelligent Design Ben Stein was giving the Commencement address to the Class of 2009. President Daniel Fogel was then inundated with emails (including one from Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins) expressing outrage at the decision. He also received many emails from parents who declared that no child of theirs would ever attend UVM if Stein spoke at Commencement and was awarded an honorary degree.

According to the Burlington Free Press, Fogel was unaware of Stein’s views on Evolution and his controversial allusions to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. He called Stein, who politely bowed out. But that’s where the politeness ended. Stein gave a  Blagojevich-worthy, obscenity-laced rebuttal in the Free Press.

Whatever you think of Ben Stein and his views on Intelligent Design, was Fogel’s decision based on academic principles or marketing? Do flaps like this one help or hurt a university’s reputation, and do parents really refuse to let their children apply to schools whose views don’t align with theirs?

UVM will probably not feel the fallout, as state schools, with their lower price tags, have gotten record numbers of applications this year. Economic factors aside, I doubt if anyone boycotted Ithaca College after Ben and Jerry gave an address a few years ago in which they were critical of the war in Iraq. But it begs the question: what motivates such decision-making? Is getting a big name Commencement speaker about media hype, alumni giving, or academic standards, or simply entertainment?