The University's decision to bring James Baker to speak at this year's Commencement may be raising concerns among pro-Israel and Jewish students, but experts say that Baker's political and personal viewpoints should not have kept the University from inviting him.
The Penn Israel Coalition has taken issue with the decision to bring the former U.S. cabinet member and co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group who famously clashed with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in the past and is alleged to have made anti-Semitic remarks.
PIC President and Wharton and College junior Max Schapiro said it is "inappropriate" for Penn to bring in an individual who is "so offensive to so many in this community."
But officials are saying that Baker's political background and past statements should not affect the University's decision to ask him to address the senior class.
"He's been a long-time public servant; . we don't think it's appropriate to deny him the opportunity to serve as a keynote speaker," said Barry Morrison, director of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that monitors anti-Semitism.
Baker has been criticized for a quote he allegedly made that was published in a 1992 column in The New York Post. In the article, Ed Koch, the former Democratic mayor of New York City, claimed that Baker said, "Fuck the Jews. They didn't vote for us anyway."
Baker and national pro-Israel groups have long been at odds with each other. In 1989, Baker delivered a speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group, in which he said that there was "no greater obstacle to peace" than Israeli settlements.
Still, some say other figures with similar accomplishments and without a history of such controversy should have been more strongly considered.
"There are plenty of speakers whose records don't stir the kind of feelings that have been stirred in these particular students," said Edward Beck, a 1983 alumnus of Penn's Graduate School of Education. "If such a speaker is offensive to Penn students, then that issue should be reexamined."
Beck, president of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, added that, at graduation, "you want to go hear an inspiring person. Baker is not considered" to be one.
SPME - made up of academics from universities around the world - is a resource center that informs academics about Middle Eastern affairs.
Others said Baker may not be as anti-Israel as some say.
"I don't think people who have seriously looked at foreign policy issues would see that he's ever taken a position that would put him in [the anti-Israel] camp," said Don Kettl, director of the Fels Institute of Government.
Beyond these Middle East-related concerns, others are pointing to Baker's involvement in the 2000 presidential election as an even greater source of the controversy.
Kettl and Political Science professor Ian Lustick cited Baker's role in the Florida vote, in which he was the crucial figure in having the Supreme Court intervene and prevent a final recount.
"The most controversial thing he has done is to have sabotaged American democracy" in the election, Lustick wrote in an e-mail.
Baker is not the first Commencement speaker to generate heavy debate before even stepping foot on campus.
In 1980, black student groups on campus were successful in protesting the selection of former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) as that year's Commencement speaker.
Moynihan had advised President Richard Nixon to approach race issues with a policy of "benign neglect," a policy widely seen as an abandonment of pro-black national programs. Eventually, Noel Gilroy Annan, a British academic, was chosen instead.
The University has thus far backed its selection of Baker as the 251st Commencement speaker. Penn Trustee and acclaimed journalist Andrea Mitchell, who was involved in the decision to bring in Baker, called him "an esteemed Secretary of State, long praised for his devotion to Middle East peace."
Staff writer Emily Babay contributed reporting to this article.
