On Tuesday's The Kelly File on Fox News Channel, Maureen Faulkner, the widow of murdered Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, berated the graduating students at Goddard College in Vermont for honoring her husband's killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal, as their commencement speaker: "I am just absolutely outraged that they would have such a hate-filled murderer on as a commencement speaker...he murdered my husband with malice and pre-meditation. He is evil."
Host Megyn Kelly noted that the college administration, which is standing behind the outgoing class, trumpeted Abu-Jamal as an "award-winning journalist who chronicles the human condition...a resident of death row for 29 years...hosts a nationally-syndicated prison radio show, and his murder trial has been the subject of great debate." Faulkner replied by not only targeting the school and its students, but also the criminal justice system:
MAUREEN FAULKNER, HUSBAND MURDERED BY MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Well, all I can say is, he is a murderer and...he lost his voice when he put a bullet between my husband's eyes. And I still do not understand this justice system, and why they are allowing him to speak. They are saying it's his constitutional right? And from what I understand, the Justice Department is – actually, in Pennsylvania, the DOJ in Pennsylvania are saying, they are so sorry that – you know, this college is allowing him to speak. Why doesn't the justice system say he's not able to speak?
Later in the interview, Kelly could barely contain her own outrage over Goddard College's move:
KELLY: These graduates want to celebrate their commencement from college by listening to a man who killed – who gunned down your 25-year-old husband like an animal.
FAULKNER: Not to mention that he graduated from that college in 1996....and got his bachelor's degree – Mumia Abu-Jamal did...while he was on death row.
KELLY: Did Daniel ever graduate from college? Was he able to graduate?
FAULKNER: My husband was in – my husband was in community college. He was getting ready to graduate with his bachelor's degree, when Mumia put a bullet into his back, and then, between his eyes. But does anyone talk about that? No.
KELLY: Unbelievable, Maureen-
FAULKNER: And this is what's wrong with our society, Megyn. You know, there's a saying – and it says, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.' And that's why we must speak out on our discontent on this murderer speaking at this commencement.
The Fox News host then turned to a spokesman from the college in Vermont, and wasted little time before blasting the institution for giving a platform to the cop killer:
KELLY: I want to bring in Dustin Byerly, who is with Goddard College, and helps as a liaison with the students. Dustin, your reaction? I mean, can – do you understand how she feels?
DUSTIN BYERLY, GODDARD COLLEGE GRADUATE: Thanks for having me on the show, Megyn. Yes, I spoke with Ms. Faulkner this morning, and we had a polite dialogue and talked about this for quite a while.
What I would say is that Goddard College's approach to education is always started with an individual. We have an individualized approach to education, so that when a student comes to the college; we ask them what they're interested in; what they're passionate about; what they want to study, and we help them build a program around their interests. But-
KELLY: All right; all right; all right. I get it. I realize it's a strange institution. They promote radicalism. They say every graduate is a valedictorian. That's – I mean, right off your website – okay, so it's one of those places. But you heard what she said. He – this man, who you guys are having on your college – his voice – as your commencement speaker – put a bullet in between the eyes of a police officer.
BYERLY: I understand your point, and it's a valid point. And our graduating students had decided that they wanted Mumia to be their commencement speaker at this graduation. It's the college's policy that we don't oppose-
KELLY: Why?
BYERLY: Because that is our policy, as a college – that advocates for complicated dialogue around complex issues. We support our students-
KELLY: What dialogue is there going to be? Who's going to – who's going to represent Maureen's side?
BYERLY: I mean, I think the dialogue is taking place right now. It's been taking place all day. It is taking place all across the country, and it brings up issues-
KELLY: Where? Where else? Where else besides Fox News?
BYERLY: I've been fielding requests all day from the press, and I've been talking with people all day, on both sides of the fence, on the issues of race and race relations, and how we deal with our prison population-
KELLY: It's not about race relations. It's about cop killing, and whether that man, who's been sentenced – he was sentenced to death; he got off death row on a technicality; now, he's serving a life in prison – has the right to have this sort of a pulpit to talk about 'revolution.' This is what he said in another speech he gave recently – and talk about how he believes, yet again, that the police – let me get it – 'White juries are still sending blacks to prison, and cops are still treating black life as a cheap commodity.' He's the one who treated life as a cheap commodity. He is.
BYERLY: That may be your opinion, and that's the opinion of many people. But, as you know, there are people-
KELLY: Including the jury and the Supreme Court!
BYERLY: There are people on both sides. Obviously, there are supporters and detractors. And it's not my position, nor the college's position, to take a side either way. What we're doing is empowering our students-
KELLY: Take a side? The – the law has spoken. The jury has spoken. The Supreme Court has spoken.
BYERLY: And that doesn't remove the students' right to select their own commencement speaker, and to hear what he has to say, from his perspective as a prisoner-
KELLY: No one is arguing it removes the right. I'm looking for the reason – reason.
BYERLY: The reason is that the graduating students believe that Mumia has a message, coming from prison – from a unique perspective – and speaks to issues that are important to them – that are important in a world where we have Ferguson....where we have police brutality; where these issues are real and in their lives and that they want to discuss-
KELLY: I'm up against a hard break. Dustin, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you for being here.
BYERLY: Thank you so much, Megyn.
