Jailed Cop Killer To Make Commencement Speech At Vermont College

It's a bold move for a small college in Plainfield, Vermont. The graduating class of 600 students has decided to invite a man serving life in prison for the killing of a police officer to be their commencement speaker.

Goddard College, a liberal arts school that does things very different from most colleges, allows students to plan their own curriculum with faculty advisers and they never take tests or get grades. And when they graduate in one of several ceremonies throughout the year, students choose their speaker.

And it is the students receiving bachelor of arts or fine arts degrees this Sunday that have selected Mumia Abu-Jamal to speak via video at their commencement.

Abu-Jamal has been called "the world's best known death-row inmate" by The New York Times for the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.He was originally sentenced to death for the killing, but in 2011 had his sentence reduced to life in prison. He says he has been the victim of a racist justice system since he is a former Black Panther and the officer was white.

He is also a 1996 graduate of Goddard College where his syndicated Prison Radio show airs every Sunday night.

Clearly a hot button issue with opinions on both sides, the Vermont Troopers' Association told the Associated Press that including Abu-Jamal in the commencement shows "an absolute disregard" for Faulkner's family. And Secretary of Pennsylvania Corrections, where Abu-Jamal is housed, John Wetzel said

Police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect society and now we have a college allowing an individual convicted of murdering a police officer to share his opinions with impressionable students. This fact is very troubling,"

On the other side Goddard College interim president Bob Kenny is quoted on the college's website saying the graduates' selection of Abu-Jamal reflects "their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that."

Some say this is just a publicity stunt by the school, what do you think of the students' choice? Would you want a jailed killer as your commencement speaker? Would you want him as your child's commencement speaker?