Rowling justifies several Harvard tuition payments

NPR has an article up about J.K. Rowling's recent commencement address for Harvard graduates. According to report, everything went extremely well--Rowling was funny, the graduates were touched, and (for once) the crowd of guests probably didn't spend the entire time discreetly checking watches.

However, not everyone thought listening to a speech by one of the world's best-selling authors was worth their time. The NPR article includes a quote from computer science major Kevin Bombino: "I think we could have done better... You know, we're Harvard. We're like the most prominent national institution. And I think we should be entitled to... we should be able to get anyone. And in my opinion, we're settling here."

Senior Andy Vaz found Rowling wanting, too: "It's definitely the 'A' list, and I wouldn't ever associate J.K. Rowling with the people on that list.... From the moment we walk through the gates of Harvard Yard, they constantly emphasize that we are the leaders of tomorrow. They should have picked a leader to speak at commencement. Not a children's writer. What does that say to the class of 2008? Are we the joke class?"

Charming!

You'd think all that Ivy League education would have taught these people when it would be smart to keep their mouths shut to avoid coming off like self-satisfied tools with vastly overinflated senses of entitlement... but apparently you'd be wrong.
j-k-rowling
Posted by: Julianka

Comments

Anonymous
Anonymous
18 Jun, 2008 06:32 PM @ version 0

"Are we the joke class?"

No, dude, I'm pretty sure that's just you.

Statler
Statler
18 Jun, 2008 09:52 PM @ version 0

Who would they have preferred? Steve Jobs? God?

Deb
Deb
22 Jun, 2008 07:18 PM @ version 0

Those kids must have excelled in the "Pretention and other Weapons of Class Entitlement" survey courses.

23 Jun, 2008 05:34 PM @ version 0

At first, I felt a little bad posting this article. After all, we all say asinine stuff, but not all of us say it to a NPR reporter... but then I decided: hey, I actually REVIEW books by people like Rowling, so there's no way these kids could possibly care about the opinion of someone as lowly as me, right?

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