It’s not so much what you know, it’s who you know.
That hoary adage seems to apply to the University of Vermont’s announcement Tuesday that Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, will speak at UVM’s commencement ceremony next May.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Yale graduate with a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, undoubtedly knows a lot of what. But he also knows an important who: Power. Their longtime friendship appears to have played a key role in her accepting an invitation to deliver UVM’s commencement address.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Why the snark? I love you 7D, and I appreciate the attitude is part of the beautifully-crafted brand, but pump the breaks.
Is it sarcasm-worthy nepotism that our Ivy League-educated mayor is friends with the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and that this connection gives UVM students an opportunity to hear from a speaker that otherwise probably wouldn’t have even been on their radar?
A great political move by Miro which will garner plenty of campaign PR for his re-election try. This city gov’t has been the most accommodating in developers gentrifying this town, which UVM would love. It’s turning into another quasi-liberalism run on class power just like New Haven, Ann Arbor, Santa Cruz, etc. A sign of where the Democratic party is going nationwide. If you truly relied upon the general student population, I doubt you would get an obscure governmental wonk but rather someone who challenges the disempowerment of our world. UVM, though coming from often upper classes, has a significant student population that challenges the social and economic paradigm, not enables it’s deadly path forward.
Remember she has to rationalize the killing of hundreds of innocent people by drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere. Is this a role model we want the next generation to emulate?