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Gonzaga University is rejecting calls from some alumni that it rescind its invitation to Archbishop Desmond Tutu to be commencement speaker this year, The Spokesman-Review reported. Critics of the invitation say that the Roman Catholic institution shouldn't honor the Anglican cleric who was a leader in the fight against apartheid because he disagrees with Roman Catholic teachings on various issues related to gender and sexuality. But the university released a statement defending the invitation. "In the 1980s and early 90s, Gonzaga faculty, staff and trustees, together with a generation of students, worked to bring awareness of the evils of apartheid in South Africa to the forefront of the Spokane community,” the statement said. "At the University’s 2012 undergraduate commencement, we are privileged to welcome a world-renowned Christian leader and social rights activist whose faith-based lifelong dedication to the cause of justice so clearly resonates with our work as a university."
