--- title: Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Speech Over Iraq War Protest description: The former Secretary of State backed out of delivering a commencement speech after students and faculty protested her Iraq war involvement canonical: https://time.com/86737/condoleezza-rice-rutgers-iraq-war/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-03T15:51:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:38:22.690Z article:section: Politics og:title: Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Speech Over Iraq War Protest og:description: The former Secretary of State backed out of delivering a commencement speech after students and faculty protested her Iraq war involvement og:url: https://time.com/86737/condoleezza-rice-rutgers-iraq-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09704009b7079691/69868dacd0b6f2940c3041b1/ap99190459069.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Condoleezza Rice og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Speech Over Iraq War Protest twitter:description: The former Secretary of State backed out of delivering a commencement speech after students and faculty protested her Iraq war involvement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09704009b7079691/69868dacd0b6f2940c3041b1/ap99190459069.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Speech Over Iraq War Protest by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 3, 2014 3:51 PM UTC  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in Burlingame, Calif, March 15, 2014. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in Burlingame, Calif, March 15, 2014.Ben Margot—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 3, 2014 3:51 PM UTC Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has chosen not to give a [commencement speech](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/condoleezza-rice-decides-against-rutgers-address) at Rutgers University after students and faculty protested, speaking out against her role in the Iraq War. Rutgers students and faculty had protested plans to have the George W. Bush administration cabinet member deliver the commencement speech, staging sit-ins and saying Rice was partially responsible for the war in Iraq, the Associated Press reports. The school’s board of governors and faculty had voted to pay Rice $35,000 for speaking at the event. Rice defended her record in a statement, but said she did not want to detract from the May 18 ceremony. “Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families,” Rice said. “Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time.” \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/condoleezza-rice-decides-against-rutgers-address)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/86737/condoleezza-rice-rutgers-iraq-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/86737/condoleezza-rice-rutgers-iraq-war/"},"headline":"Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Speech Over Iraq War Protest","datePublished":"2014-05-03T15:51:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:38:22.690Z","description":"Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has backed out of a commencement speech at the university after students and faculty protested her involvement in the Iraq war. 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