Commencement

What in the heck is wrong with our city schools? Your almost half page story about Western High School commencement policy ( "Western to review commencement policy" May 17) indicates there are some idiots in charge. Denial of the commencement right only because of post-graduate intentions, i.e., attending a four year college, borders on elitism, snobbery, whatever else one chooses to call it. It is also unconstitutional. If one attends four years and gets a lot of C's in the process but has passed all subjects, he/she is entitled to graduate with a formal commencement like everyone else.

If Baltimore native Leland Shelton had bothered to check his email in the hectic day before graduation, he might have avoided a shock during commencement. There he was, one of 500 men in a black cap and gown this week at Morehouse College in Atlanta, soaking up the words of the speaker — President Barack Obama — when the commander in chief called out his name. "Where's Leland?" Obama said, and Shelton's mouth went dry. "I was floored, I was momentarily paralyzed," the 21-year-old said.

This is the season of generational twaddle. At graduation ceremonies across the country, politicians, authors, actors and businessmen take to the stage to tell young people they are fantastic simply because they are young. This year, the ritual is more pathetic than usual because there's a presidential election in the offing. And because the current occupant of the White House won in 2008 in no small part due to his success with the "youth vote," he is desperate for them to repeat their blunder.

President Barack Obama will travel to Annapolis to speak at the Naval Academy commencement today, addressing the class at a time when the military faces complicated internal challenges the graduating midshipmen will soon inherit. It is the second time Obama has spoken at the academy's graduation - the first was in 2009 - and it is the 22nd time a president has attended the ceremony since James A. Garfield spoke to the class of 1881. U.S. military involvement around the world has changed dramatically since Obama last spoke in Annapolis - combat operations in Iraq ended in 2010, and the administration is working to wind down the nearly 12-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson stepped down Wednesday as commencement speaker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine after complaints from students about controversial comments concerning same-sex marriage. The withdrawal came less than a week after medical school Dean Paul B. Rothman chastised Carson for his comments and met with graduating students concerned that the famed physician was an inappropriate commencement speaker. Carson sent Rothman a letter saying that he didn't want to "distract from the celebratory nature of the day. " "Given all the national media surrounding my statements as to my belief in traditional marriage, I believe it would be in the best interest of the students for me to voluntarily withdraw as your commencement speaker this year," he wrote in the letter to Rothman, which the dean shared with the Hopkins community.

Baltimore school officials were wise to suspend the rule stating that only Western High School students accepted at four-year colleges could participate in this year's graduation ceremonies. Given that some Western students' college application efforts were botched by the school's failure to send transcripts and other materials to admissions offices, they could hardly have done otherwise. But the policy needs to be shelved for good. It is predicated on the one-size-fits-all notion that a four-year college education is the right path for every student.

This year's Goucher College graduates will likely enjoy one of region's quirkier commencement speeches. The school announced that Ira Glass, host of public radio's "This American Life," will give the graduation keynote on May 18. He'll also be getting an honorary degree from the school. Glass is a Baltimore native. He grew up in Baltimore County and attended Milford Mill High. Goucher also points out that he's the grandson of Frieda Friedlander from Goucher's Class of 1931.

Salisbury State UniversityTime: 10 a.m.Date: todayGraduates: 770Speaker: Judge Shirley Brannock Jones, retired, U.S. Court of Appeals, 4thDistrictCollege of Notre Dameof MarylandTime: 10:30 a.m.Date: todayGraduates: 365Speaker: Margaret M. Heckler, former secretary of health and human servicesUniversity of Baltimore Schoolof LawTime: 2 p.m.Date: tomorrowGraduates: 281Speaker: J. Joseph Curran Jr., attorney general for MarylandTowson State UniversityTime: 1...

President Barack Obama will return to Annapolis to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy this year, the first time he has spoken to a graduating class of midshipmen since 2009, the White House said Monday. The address comes at a time of continued transition for the military, as the administration draws down troop levels in Afghanistan in advance of the 2014 exit and the Pentagon is squeezed by government-wide budget reductions. "It will be an honor and privilege to welcome the 44th president of the United States and Commander-in-Chief back to Annapolis," Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Michael Miller said in a statement.  The graduating class, he said, "will look to the president for his leadership and wisdom as they get ready for their first assignments.

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association before it dissolved on Friday, will deliver Maryland's spring commencement address in College Park on May 19. According to The Diamondback , the university's student newspaper, a committee of about 20 students chose Smith , who went to law school at Virgnia, for "a variety of reasons. " The whole NFLPA thing was probably the primary one. "He is the only executive director of the NFL Players Association to have never played professional football," student Brian Toll, the senior council's commencement speaker chairman, told the newspaper.

Annapolis Police are reminding residents to expect traffic congestion on Friday, May 24, due to the U.S. Naval Academy graduation ceremony. Commencement scheduled to be held at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium beginning at 10 a.m. President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver the commencement address, the first time he has spoken to a graduating class of midshipmen since 2009. Roads affected may include U.S. Route 50, Rowe Boulevard, Farragut Road, Taylor Avenue, Cedar Park Road, Annapolis Street and Route 450.  Road congestion is expected to start at 6 a.m. and will peak between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., police said.

Oriole Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. drew a laugh Sunday during his commencement address at the University of Maryland, College Park when he noted his wife, Kelly, graduated from the university, "although she will not allow me to reveal the year. " Dressed in a black robe and glasses, Ripken paused, leaned into the microphone carefully and said in a stage whisper, "1981. " The Comcast Center was packed to the rafters with family, friends and members of the Class of 2013. More than 7,700 students received degrees - although not at the campus-wide ceremony.

As part of this blog's effort to provide LGBT-related news and commentary, we'll be bringing you links to stories from around the web in a weekly feature called Looking Out . Here's a look at what's making a splash today: -- Same-sex marriage has made pretty high-profile strides in the last three weeks, but things are picking up across the Atlantic, too. France's gay marriage law has been deemed constitutional by the nation's constitutional council....

Michelle Obama encouraged the graduates of Bowie State University on Friday to live up to the legacy of their university's founders and the leaders of the civil rights movement by promoting the importance of education in the black community. "Just think about this for a moment - for generations, in many parts of this country, it was illegal for black people to get an education," Obama told the predominantly black crowd, referring to the period in which Bowie State was founded. "Slaves caught reading or writing could be beaten within an inch of their lives.

My town, Annapolis, is a special kind of college town. The students at the Naval Academy are distinctive not for their backpacks, ear buds and school T-shirts, but for their crisp summer whites and their somber dress blues. The midshipmen take off their hats - their covers - when they enter a building, and they say "sir" and "ma'am" when you greet them. At this college, you don't pay anything unless you quit or get kicked out. About 1,400 arrive every July, but only about 800 will graduate four years later.

Expectations are high for this year's commencement speakers at Maryland universities - an august crew that includes the Obamas and their team of writers as well as funnyman Bill Cosby and Hollywood director Jason Winer. But to stand out - or simply be remembered - isn't a guarantee, no matter how high the profile of the speaker. "The commencement speaker has to perform. He or she has the responsibility to inspire both students and graduates to make something of their lives" without falling back on cliches, said Steven D. Cohen, managing director of the oral communication program at the University of Maryland.

If Baltimore native Leland Shelton had bothered to check his email in the hectic day before graduation, he might have avoided a shock during commencement. There he was, one of 500 men in a black cap and gown this week at Morehouse College in Atlanta, soaking up the words of the speaker — President Barack Obama — when the commander in chief called out his name. "Where's Leland?" Obama said, and Shelton's mouth went dry. "I was floored, I was momentarily paralyzed," the 21-year-old said.

WASHINGTON -- First lady Michelle Obama will speak at Bowie State University's commencement on May 17, the White House said Thursday. The school, Maryland's oldest historically black college and one of the oldest in the nation, is celebrating its 148th anniversary. The school is "part of the rich legacy of historically black colleges and universities that have been instrumental in educating generations of African Americans," the White House said in its announcement.  Obama will also speak at Eastern Kentucky University and a Tennessee high school, the White House said.  The announcement comes a day after the first lady entered the policy debate over gun control with a deeply personal address on violence to a conference in Chicago.

John Hopkins professor Jon Lorsch will replace neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson as commencement speaker at the institution's School of Medicine. Lorsch will become director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences this summer. He has spent the last 12 years studying how cells make proteins, a process that can help look at why people get cancer. Carson voluntarily stepped down this month as commencement speaker for Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Education after making controversial comments about same-sex marriage.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Baltimore native, will deliver the commencement address at the University of Baltimore law school in May, the congresswoman's office said Wednesday. Pelosi, a California Democrat, will also be awarded an honorary law degree. The former House Speaker gave the keynote graduation address at Goucher College in 2005 and spoke at Hopkins in 2009. Pelosi is the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. Her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also served as mayor.