John Ostapkovich, CBS Philadelphia, September 30, 2014

A small Vermont college is poking a lot of people in the eye by having convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal as its commencement speaker next Sunday.

The president of Goddard College, where Abu-Jamal got a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007 despite being imprisoned hundreds of miles away, says he was selected as speaker by this class of grads, expressing their freedom to think radically.

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Corrections Department spokeswoman Sue McNaughton says Abu-Jamal is merely making use of his phone privileges.

“He’s done this before in the past. He’s made other commencement addresses. They’re not live, from what I understand. They’re recorded and then played.”

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