Several Princeton students banded together to pen an op-ed piece in the school newspaper expressing their disappointment towards last week's announcement that Marshawn Lynch will be the senior "Class Day" speaker.
"As seniors, we had been looking forward to the speaker announcement for months," the letter explains. "Many of us were disappointed when we saw that this year’s speaker was to be Marshawn Lynch, mainly because we did not feel included in the process by which this speaker was nominated and finally selected."
The piece asks that revisions be made to the speaker selection process, citing a "paradoxical and thus questionable" quote from Class Day co-chair Jaylin Lugardo where he said Lynch has "unapologetically embodied and advocated for our own identities and values."
The letter appears to veil the students' criticism of the selection of Lynch in their commentary toward a lack of transparency in the overall nomination process. The op-ed argues that the committee's failure to mention Lynch's issues with the media, and how his prior transgressions with league policy have led to him being fined for not speaking with reporters "caused confusion over the set of criteria that led to his nomination."
Even though there are a number of Princeton students who oppose Lynch's selection as speaker, there are just as many, if not more, who would love the opportunity to have the NFL running back drop some knowledge at their school.
Barring a change in plans, Lynch will speak at Princeton’s Class Day on June 1.
