A former Black Panther and convicted cop-killer was selected by a Vermont college to speak at their commencement ceremony, a "despicable" decision that should be reversed, his victim's widow told FoxNews.com. This will mark the third time that the 60-year-old has given commencement speeches at colleges, including at Evergreen State College in Washington and Antioch College in Ohio.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the school in 1996 through a correspondence program, has been selected by undergraduate students at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, as their commencement speaker on Sunday.
But Maureen Faulkner, whose 25-year-old husband Daniel was gunned down by Abu-Jamal in 1981, expressed outrage at the student's decision to invite him.
"It's not appropriate," Faulkner said. "His freedom was taken away when he murdered a police officer in the line of duty. It seems like our justice system allows murderers to continue to have a voice over the public airwaves and at college commencement. It's despicable."
"How can this go on in our country? It's amazing," Faulkner continued. "People need to start realizing that there's right and wrong in this world. It seems like no one thinks about that."
After being convicted in the 1981 slaying of the Philadelphia police officer, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death following a high-profile trial. But his sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment, Washington Times reported.
In a statement, Goddard College Interim President Bob Kenny said the college holds 20 commencement ceremonies annually to provide personalized graduation ceremonies in each degree program, according to Fox News.
"As a reflection of Goddard's individualized and transformational educational model, our commencements are intimate affairs where each student serves as her or his own valedictorian, and each class chooses its own speaker," Kenny said in a statement. "Choosing Mumia as their commencement speaker, to me, shows how this newest group of Goddard graduates expresses their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that."
The school's decision was also slammed by the head of the Vermont State Police, who condemned its students for portraying "blatant indifference" toward law enforcement.
"The scheduled commemoration of convicted cop killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal, demonstrates an appalling disregard for law enforcement officers, and their families, who have lost their lives in the line of duty," Col. Tom L'Esperance said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "Our thoughts go out to Officer Daniel Faulkner's wife and family, who continue to mourn the 1981 death of the 25-year-old Philadelphia police officer. Despite this blatant indifference shown by the students and leaders at Goddard College, law enforcement officers across the country, and in Vermont, continue to serve and protect their communities - everyday - at great risk to themselves. All the while, their loved ones are wishing them safely home."
Meanwhile, university officials do not condone "any acts" of violence, a spokesman for Goddard College said.
"Our condolences go out to [Faulkner] as they go out to the many victims and their families who have experienced senseless acts of violence," spokesman Dustin Bylerly said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "Our aspiration is to make the world a less violent place in which to live by examining carefully those elements of life in this world that lead to such senseless acts. Without equivocation we do not condone any acts of violence."
