Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch was bestowed quite an honor recently, being named the “Class Day” speaker for Princeton University seniors, celebrating honorary class members.
Some Princeton seniors, however, apparently aren’t pleased with the selection process this year and expressed their concerns in an op-ed published by the student newspaper.
“As seniors, we had been looking forward to the speaker announcement for months,” the letter begins. “Many of us were disappointed when we saw that this year’s speaker was to be Marshawn Lynch, mainly because we did not feel included in the process by which this speaker was nominated and finally selected.”
The students noted Lynch’s treatment of the media during his first run with the Seahawks as one of their causes for concern.
“Among articles that praised his NFL career and philanthropic contributions, we came across articles discussing Lynch’s reticence with the media and his terse responses at press conferences,” the students wrote. “In 2013 and 2014, for example, Lynch was fined $50,000 and $100,000 for refusing to speak to the media. During the 2015 Superbowl Media Day, Lynch famously responded to multiple questions with variants of ‘I’m just here so I won’t get fined.’
“With no other frame of reference, such reports caused confusion over the set of criteria that led to his nomination.”
While the students might not be pleased with Lynch as this year’s “Class Day” speaker, as a media member who has covered him since he first set foot in Seattle, I can assure them at least his speech will be short.
