Jerry Falwell Sr. Not Rolling Over in Grave

If, as the national media has reported, some Liberty University students absent themselves from their graduation ceremony tomorrow morning in protest of the school's choice of a Mormon commencement speaker, their absence isn't likely to be noticed. The university will confer degrees on 14,012 residential and online students, with about 6,000 graduates in attendance among a crowd expected to swell to over 34,000. Security protocols surrounding the address by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney require students and faculty to show up hours ahead of time in order to be screened by metal detectors before passing into the area where ceremony's procession will begin. Fewer bodies might, in fact, be welcomed by those (full disclosure), like me, who will be attending.