A few weeks ago I posted some criticisms about the Winter Commencement address at my shop, and one reader wrote to criticize me. The provost has provided everyone with a copy of the address. Unfortunately, it's copyrighted, so I will copy only a couple snippets below:

Between our Social Security system, our national deficits, the startling signs of moral neglect in some corners of our religious life, the nauseating failures of judgment and ethics in many leading businesses, and the inability for so many in our communities to gain access to health care, food, affordable rental housing and quality childcare, I am afraid that if stewardship was the course we were taking right now, we wouldn’t exactly make the honor roll.

In Ohio alone, since 2000 we lost more jobs than any other state and personal income has shrunk from sixth highest in the nation in 1960 to 24th today, and, we rank 39th in % of residents with four year college degrees. And the best we can do is focus on concealed weapons and same sex marriages.. Talk about fiddling while Rome is burning…

And, being among those who are more highly educated, you have an even greater responsibility to put that knowledge to a good purpose. William Sloan Coffin, once wrote, “The primary problems of the planet arose not from the poor, for whom education is the answer; they arise from the well-educated for whom self-interest is the problem.”

UPDATE: I forgot to quote my favorite: ...companies like Kintera, Starbucks and Toronto’s MUCH Music and others have found a way to be very prosperous while also helping others.

The implication is that it's the rare for-profit company that is prosperous while helping others--only a few have "found a way." Pure rubbish. The fact is that for-profit companies operating in free markets become prosperous only when they help others.