After controversial comments made by last May’s commencement speaker surgeon Ben Carson offended students and faculty, resulting in a silent protest and walkout, University President Jesse Rogers said he will appoint a committee of faculty and student representatives to choose future speakers.

Rogers said he approved bringing Carson as commencement speaker because he thought Carson would be a good example for students.

“Dr. Carson is one of the best surgeons in the world and he’s a great example of coming from nowhere to get to his position,” Rogers said. “I thought he would be a good example and a good speaker.”

Rogers said he and his staff, mainly with the help of the Director of Board and Government Relations Debbie Barrow, were responsible for approving of Carson. This year, however, Rogers will have the additional help of a selection committee to choose a commencement speaker.

“I went to the faculty meeting because there were some people who objected to Carson and they spoke their mind,” Rogers said, “the senate took action and their recommendation was that I have some other people on the committee to select and approve a commencement speaker.”

Julie Wood, assistant professor of kinesiology, first proposed the idea of forming a selection committee when she met with Rogers to discuss how Carson’s negative comments on homosexuality were hurtful to a large population of students.

“We had no problem with [Carson] if it would have been part of the Artist Lecture Series or if he was brought on campus for a special presentation,” Wood said. “All of those things people have an active choice in attending.”

Wood said the problem with having Carson speak at graduation is that faculty and graduating students must attend the ceremony, something she wanted to be sure Rogers was aware of in their meeting.

“For graduation, certain groups of individuals don’t have a choice and so this was just, to us, totally inappropriate,” Wood said.

However, Wood said she understood that the university had already made a commitment to having Carson as commencement speaker.

“We had made a commitment and we needed to honor that commitment,” Wood said, “but during that, it was brought up that this is really the student’s graduation, it’s not the faculty’s graduation.”

That commitment came in the form of a donation to cover Carson’s speaker fee, which The Wichitan has confirmed came from Kathryn Dillard, a primary benefactor of the Dillard College of Business Administration.

Wood said she made a comment to Rogers during their meeting that students should have more involvement in choosing the speaker for graduation because graduation is about the students.

“Accordingly, this went to the faculty senate where we had a special meeting called to address this issue,” Wood said. “During that meeting a number of things were said because faculty senate folks were pretty upset over things too.”

Wood said in a faculty meeting last Thursday, Rogers put together a proposal for who would make up the selection committee which currently includes Rogers himself, Barrow, the chair of the faculty senate and the student body president, but the final details are still being worked out.

“I personally believe that that’s not enough student representation,” Wood said, “it would be impossible for that one person to represent the entire student body.”

The final decision for who will comprise the committee currently belongs to Rogers, but he said he welcomes more involvement from students.

“That’s great because at many universities the students will make recommendations to the president,” Rogers said. “It’s just another way of involving students in the university and involving them in something that’s theirs, which is commencement, so I’m happy to do it.”

Michael Winters, psychology and sociology junior and president of the Gender and Sexuality Diversity Association, said he wanted to give Carson the benefit of the doubt when he heard of Carson’s comments on homosexuals.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to discredit me for being pro-gay if I were asked to speak somewhere,” Winters said. “So I wanted to give him the same respect.”

Winters said members of his group, the GSDA, were understandably upset about Carson, but Winters wanted to set an example for his organization by taking the high road, but ended up disappointed in Carson’s speech.

“I was so sad to hear about all the misinformation and vote baiting that he really did at graduation,” Winters said. “That was really disappointing more than anything because I was willing to take that step forward and meet him halfway.”

Wood said she is not solely concerned about discrimination facing the GBLT community on campus, but discrimination of all student groups.

“When you look at the broader context there is a problem on this campus in bullying, in putting people down,” Wood said, “whether they be gay or lesbian students, whether they be Caribbean students or whether they be the Jewish population; ugly things are being said.”

That is why Wood said the proposed selection committee is a step in the right direction towards stopping discrimination on campus.

“I’m always impatient so I would like to see it move a little faster but movement is occurring and I think that is a very positive thing,” Wood said. “As long as the whole student body—as much as possible—is represented, I think many of us would be ok.”

Rogers said it was a difficult time for him when he talked to Wood and learned about the effect Carson’s comments had on students and faculty as he balanced their concerns with his own concerns about freedom of speech.

“We have done everything we can to protect free speech and free expression and I think in this case, it was done,” Rogers said. “I thought Dr. Carson’s speech was well accepted and I thought that those who wanted to protest Dr. Carson being here did it in a very professional way and they did it in a way that they had a right to do.”

Despite the backlash to Carson’s comments, Rogers said he thinks it resulted in a positive outcome by causing a selection committee to be formed.

“I certainly understood the position that Julie Wood took and I think that it did turn out positive,” Rogers said. “We’re dealing with something that is a great national debate today and that it’s such a personal thing that it’s going to be controversial.”