Cal Football: Marshawn Lynch Named Speaker at Princeton; Students Object

Former Cal standout and NFL star Marshawn Lynch was named a Class Day speaker at Princeton University, but some students at that stuffy Ivy League institution are objecting, according to media reports.

In an op-ed article in the student newspaper, several Princeton students criticized the decision to have Lynch speak. He has been promoting his “sustained professional excellence.”

Lynch was named as a speaker last week and his talk is scheduled to take place before graduation and not at the commencement ceremony. Class Day is a senior-organized event that focuses more on honorary class members, but students still protested, criticizing the co-chairs for the selection.

"As seniors, we had been looking forward to the speaker announcement for months," the students’ letter starts, according to USA Today. "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."

According to Yahoo, the students objected to the idea that Lynch was chosen to represent the student body, writing as follows:

"However, saying that Lynch has 'unapologetically embodied and advocated for our own identities and values' (as stated in the University’s official Instagram post) without officially consulting us, the Princeton community, is paradoxical and thus questionable.”

They also noted Lynch's history with the media, according to USA Today.

"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. 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."

Well, we in the media understand the frustration regarding Lynch’s unwillingness to speak to the media on many occasions. But we would have no objections to having him speak on something called Class Day.

If we were Princeton students, that is.

And now for some reminiscing.

Another video of Lynch recreating his golf-cart ride at Cal:

And here is the original golf-cart ride at Cal: