Toomey urges Vt. college to cancel Abu-Jamal speech

WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) urged a Vermont college Thursday to revoke its invitation to have Mumia Abu-Jamal as a commencement speaker, blasting the decision to give the platform to a convicted cop killer.

"Is there any crime so heinous that Goddard would not reward the perpetrator with a spot as commencement speaker?" Toomey asked in his letter to Robert Kenny, the interim president of tiny Goddard College.

On Sunday afternoon the school is scheduled to have Abu-Jamal address 20 graduates in a prerecorded speech from prison. He is serving a life sentence for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

"I cannot fathom how anyone could think it appropriate to honor a cold-blooded murderer," Toomey wrote, calling the invitation a "slap in the face" to Faulkner's family.

Maureen Faulkner, the officer's widow, told Fox News earlier this week that she was "absolutely outraged."

"This man, he murdered my husband with malice and premeditation," Faulkner said on Fox. "He is evil. What does he have to offer?"

A spokeswoman for the 700-student school did not return messages seeking comment Thursday, and Toomey's office said it had received no response from Goddard to the senator's letter.

The pending speech also drew scorn Thursday from Pennsylvania's victim advocate, Jennifer Storm.

In a statement, Storm said her office, which is part of state government, was "appalled and disgusted that Goddard College would give any credence to the voice of a convicted cop killer."

A woman who edited a book by Abu-Jamal and has produced his radio recordings from prison defended him.

"The mainstream media would do well to listen to [Mumia Abu-Jamal's] always illuminating and insightful commentaries," Noelle Hanrahan said in comments distributed by the liberal Institute for Public Accuracy. "His ability to speak truth to power represents a clear challenge to American hegemony."

The fall graduating class at Goddard chose Abu-Jamal as its commencement speaker. He received a bachelor's degree from the school in 1996 after completing coursework in prison.

Goddard offers an unusual academic environment. Students generally do their work from home, visit campus just a few weeks per year, and are, on average, 35 years old, a spokeswoman said this week.

The school has 20 commencement ceremonies each year.

"They chose Mumia because to them, Mumia represents a struggle for freedom of the mind, body, and spirit," Goddard spokeswoman Samantha Kolber said earlier this week. "Those were values important to this graduating class."