BYU Cheney protests impress Ralph Nader
The Associated Press
Part of an article launched: 04/25/2007 07:54:33 AM MDT

Ralph Nader says he is impressed by his invitation from students at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University to speak on the same day as Vice President Dick Cheney.
Nader, the legendary consumer advocate and former third-party presidential candidate, says that development reflects increasing opposition to the war in Iraq.
Nader has accepted an invitation by BYU students to speak Thursday evening after Vice President Dick Cheney addresses graduates. The event's organizers say they oppose the actions of Cheney as part of President's Bush's administration and want to offer an alternative voice on that day.
"It's really quiet encouraging to see BYU students stand tall and assert themselves in ways they will long remember and respect after they graduate," Nader told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I think it reflects a massive public opposition to a war that was initiated on false pretenses."
He said he plans to talk about government accountability and foreign policy, particularly the war in Iraq.
The speech is open to the public but at least some of his words will be targeted toward students, he said.
Students need to take themselves more seriously as emerging civic leaders to advance causes of justice "that have been ignored, marginalized and severely damaged by the domination of corporate power in America," he said.
When the school announced that Cheney would deliver the commencement speech, several faculty members and students objected. Critics of the decision question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.
Students at the school are required to adhere to an "honor code" that, in addition to forbidding alcohol and drug use, also places heavy emphasis on honesty and integrity, said Cheney opponents.

Ralph Nader on the Need for Moral Courage
In an earlier address Ralph Nader spoke about the need for moral courage, something we can identify with as Latter Day Saints working for equality and social justice. Notice a striking resemblance between the findings of Ralph Nader and Brigham Young in a document MESJ has on file in her library:
Proclamation on the Economy - 1875

Dayne Goodwin wrote the following report:
For the last month since they learned about it, a courageous group of
Brigham Young University graduating seniors have campaigned against
their university administration's decision to accept Vice President Dick Cheney's offer to be this year's commencement speaker.
They spoke out in opposition and started a petition campaign asking
the university administration to reconsider. Over 3,000 students,
alumni and some faculty signed the petition. When they asked for an
appointment to present the petition the university administration said
they wouldn't have time to meet until after the
graduation/commencement ceremony. The thousand plus BYU students who
signed the petition have been put on a blacklist by local, BYU and
Mormon-church related employers.
At the two (i think unprecedented) on-campus protests of about three
hundred students, organized under severe restrictions, they
demonstrated impressive political sagacity and combativity. I was
impressed by the student shown in a local media photograph wearing a
hand-made "Enemy Combatant" t-shirt. At the second of these protests
yesterday, the Utah Veterans for Peace solidarized from across the
street, just off BYU property, led by chapter president and BYU
alumnus Aaron Davis.
The BYU students decided to organize an "Alternative Commencement" but
were refused every possible public and private venue within the city of
Provo where BYU is located. They raised over $20,000 and rented the
special events center at Utah Valley State College (now becoming Utah
Valley University) which is about two miles away from BYU across the
Provo boundary into the neighboring city of Orem.
A good portion of the money went to bring in the keynote Alternative
Commencement speaker Ralph Nader. They screened the new
film on Nader, "An Unreasonable Man," at a fundraiser.
About 2,000 students and community supporters (activist groups, many
from Salt Lake City about 30 miles to the north, were invited to
table) gathered last night for the Alternative Commencement program.
The ceremony began with the ritual "Pomp and Circumstance " music and
about fifty graduating students marching to take their seats in their
caps and gowns. Other graduating students straggled in with what were
apparently sometimes curious, sometimes reluctant family members fresh
from the official commencement.
Graduating BYU students Eric Bybee and Ashley Sanders gave
introductory remarks for the program which included two other guest
speakers, former Amnesty International USA director Jack Healey and
Pete Ashdown, the Democratic Party candidate against incumbent Utah
Senator Orrin Hatch in the last election. Gabe Dominguez of San
Francisco sang his "Protest the War" song, BYU student John Kovalenko
played the violin, and other students gave opening and closing
prayers.