Post-secondary graduation ceremonies are always both emotional and thoughtprovoking events. They are moving, of course, for the sight of that special someone stepping forward for congratulations - seemingly just a day or two after you first heard them cry out their entry into your world. But en masse they put a lump in most throats as well: It is the very future, as it were, crossing the stage into the unknown wearing those exalted smiles of hope and pride. More...

By Ray Sanchez. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, delivering Thursday's commencement speech at Harvard University, criticized what he described as a disturbing trend of liberals silencing voices "deemed politically objectionable."
"This spring, it has been disturbing to see a number of college commencement speakers withdraw -- or have their invitations rescinded -- after protests from students and -- to me, shockingly -- from senior faculty and administrators who should know better," Bloomberg said.
The billionaire former mayor cited an October speech during which his ex-police commissioner, Ray Kelly, was shouted down by students at Brown University. More...