Why the Dalai Lama's University of California Commencement Address Is Controversial
The Dalai Lama's commencement address at the University of California, San Diego this weekend has stirred some controversy on a campus where 12.5% of the students are from China. A total of 50,000 tickets for the Dalai Lama's two speeches on campus — a public address on Friday and a commencement address on Saturday — sold out within hours, the San Diego Union-Tribunereported. But more than 3,500 students at the university are Chinese citizens, and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) at the university raised objections to the Dalai Lama's selection soon after it was announced earlier this year.
