As Jim Stephens approached the podium at the University of Alabama’s main graduation ceremony in May 2007, the United States was entering its

fourth year

of the

Iraq War

, with troops across the region – and the death toll –

surging

.

For Stephens, a

former soldier

Who would take over as chairman of his family’s information technology company, EBSCO Industries, found the devastation to be unbearable.

War, for me, represents the gravest occurrence we can partake in as human beings,” he stated this week, roughly 18 years after his initial comment. “My aim was for (the graduates) to contemplate that.

Thus, after inspiring the students to “embrace values, cultivate critical thinking, and… summon the courage to uphold these principles,” Stephens urged the crowd to reflect deeply on America’s position in world affairs, as various media outlets noted.

“We can relate easily to the family pain from the killing of innocents at Virginia Tech,” he said from the lectern, referring to the deadly mass shooting a month earlier that had

killed 32 people

.

However, he went on to say, “On that same day, fifty civilians lost their lives in Iraq.”

“We are asking whether this is good global citizenship. Most importantly, we are asking: Is this the behavior of a good and virtuous society?”

Some in the audience of capped-and-gowned young adults furrowed their brows. Others considered booing. Stephens’ pivot into global politics – which he underscored at both a morning and an afternoon ceremony – felt out of line to some in a moment that should have been devoted to celebrating grads’ accomplishments.

Since then, the University of Alabama hasn’t had a speaker as part of its main commencement.

That was, until this week.


President Donald Trump

is set to deliver an address to the class of 2025 during an event Thursday kicking off the university’s graduation weekend. And even before he arrives in Tuscaloosa, politics is already back at the fore.

While Trump’s speech is ticketed and optional for graduates, it has drawn the ire of the

state’s NAACP

and the university’s College Democrats, who plan to hold a “

Tide Against Trump

counter-event with former Alabama Senator Doug Jones, who is an alumnus of the institution, and

Beto O’Rourke

, the ex-congressman who’s earned national prominence trying make statewide Democratic inroads in Texas. An online petition opposing Trump’s address has garnered 25,000 signatures.

By simply serving as president, Trump has entered the same contentious terrain that Stephens navigated back in 2007 by making politics central to graduation festivities. His comments could potentially create more ripples across various political viewpoints.

As for Stephens, who is now 86, he remains steadfast in his choice to address one of the most contentious topics in American commencement speeches and urge graduates many years back to contemplate what it signifies to be a citizen of both the United States and the globe, as he mentioned.

It’s a pivotal moment—these students are heading off in vastly different paths,” he said to Big One News. “I aimed to connect with them individually…and also discuss our society and what’s happening within our country.

‘Speak the truth bluntly to real authority’

In 2007, sitting in the front row with fellow graduates, Daniel Maguire looked puzzled as Stephens began speaking about the war in Iraq.

“We’re sort of exchanging glances with each other, as if to say, ‘Is this actually happening? Is he truly heading there for graduation?'” Maguire recounted to Big One News.


Protesting

a

commencement


speaker’s


address

was becoming something of a rite of passage, raising the stakes for those brave enough to step up to the podium and share their advice.

“Should we… should we Boo?” Maguire and his classmates pondered.

Maguire opted out of it, he mentioned. However, according to Stephens, multiple individuals in attendance went ahead with it anyway.

The more Maguire reflected on the event that weekend, he mentioned, the more “annoyed” he felt. Consequently, he wrote an opinion piece for the

local paper

—and left a voicemail for Stephens at his office the following Monday.

Mr. Stephens leads a major, thriving company, and if he wishes to share his political views, he has numerous channels available for that purpose,” Maguire remembered saying to Stephens’ assistant. “There was no need for him to effectively take over a graduation ceremony.

Stephens was taken aback by such criticism, as he mentioned to Big One News. However, his address achieved its intended purpose; it initiated a conversation.

“The public needs to strive for being well-informed. They ought to aim at gaining information and formulating opinions,” he stated. “While I wasn’t trying to exert excessive influence, I did express my perspectives… My intention was to offer those listeners some food for thought.”

In 2007, after completing his master’s degree, Maguire started his professional journey in higher education at the University of Alabama’s business school, working in the registrar’s office.

Ever since then, the university has not featured conventional graduation speakers, choosing rather to announce the names of every graduate during their commencement ceremonies.

Maguire is uncertain if it was Stephens’ speech that triggered the change in direction, and officials from the University of Alabama chose not to comment on this matter. However, having lived overseas for 18 years since then, he has reconsidered his views on the 2007 commencement address.

“Nowadays, I would probably agree with most of what Mr. Stephens said, particularly (with) the US throwing its weight around the world,” Maguire told Big One News.

This year, more than 6,000 students are expected to participate in graduation ceremonies,

according to the university

. Maguire still stands by his original position that commencement is not the place for politicking, he said – with one caveat.

“If you had the opportunity to honestly speak truth to actual power,” he said, “you should take it.”

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