Comm. Major and Damn Proud of It

I’ve never been more proud to be a Communications Major. Go ahead and laugh, our major gets a lot of flack, but how many departments came out to protest LMU’s decision to bring Karl Rove to campus, voices ringing out loud, chanting, “Rove Lied, People Died”, and brandishing signs that say, “Evidence is Freedom, Rove is NOT”?

Fellow Lions call us the default major, the major with all the airheads, sororities, they tell us we’re not going anywhere with our lives, and that none of us will succeed. But you don’t know our secret: our faculty. It was our faculty, under the leadership of Dr. Wenshu Lee, who led the charge, organized the peaceful protest, and encouraged their students to join (which we did). It was my Media Criticism professor, Dr. Wander, who revealed to our class that LMU paid Karl Rove $30,000 to speak. Dr. Lee and Dr. Wander both gave powerful speeches that night about how all lives count, human rights, and the importance of freedom, values which, in their opinion, Karl Rove does not embody.

In a conversation with one other of my previous Communications professors, I asked her why the Comm. Department is protesting. She told me that silence is merely consenting. After all, none of us agreed to have Karl Rove, nor does our department believe he presents a good role model for LMU. And if you look at the facts, he doesn’t hold up to our mission statement of the education of the whole person and commitment to social justice. A surprising number of students don’t even know who Karl Rove is.

I mean, we get it. It’s First Amendment Week and yes, it’s an accomplishment we were able to get a keynote speaker who represents the opposite attitudes of most people on campus. Yes, Rove is very controversial and conservative. But if you wanted a controversial conservative, why not ask anyone working at FOX News? How about Bill O’Reilly?

And, really, $30,000? That’s a year’s worth of tuition at LMU! That money could be going to financial aid, a better recycling program, paying professors, funding departments, a donation to a worthy cause… or hey, maybe even paying our fellow neighbors to stop complaining about LMU. But Karl Rove? This is the man who is widely known as “The Turd Blossom”. The man who narced out the identity of Valerie Plame, a former CIA employee, in retaliation for James Wilson’s op-ed in the NY Times for criticizing the Bush Administration’s actions (which is ironic and hypocritical, considering Rove came to speak at First Amendment Week).

So have a little more faith in us, LMU. Surely with passionate, intelligent, and articulate professors, there are at least a few Comm Majors who will not disappoint. And we do know how to have a little fun, with our loud chants of “F-U K.R.” and signs that read, “$30,000 could have gone to CollegeFest”. If there is one thing we Comm Majors know how to do, it’s certainly being vocal.

So in the spirit of First Amendment Week and my incredible Communication Studies Department, I will strive to become more vocal and fire it up a little bit more. Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Issa Morada, a Communication Studies Major at LMU and damn proud to be one.

Issa Morada