Surprisingly enough, the students at UCLA have no love for James Franco who went there to get his undergrad degree in English. He graduated in '08 and has been invited back to be the key note speaker for graduation this year. But, folks are so riled up, they've started a Facebook page protesting the actor's presence.

“James Franco has been chosen as the speaker
for the College of Letters and Sciences Commencement Ceremony for 2009.
Clearly, this is ridiculous. Anyone who has been in his classes knows
he is an average student at UCLA. This is an accomplishment while
working in his industry, but he is our academic peer, which makes him
an inappropriate choice for a keynote speaker. His academic experiences
are too limited thus far to provide him with the wisdom and perspective
such a speaker is meant to provide to graduates,” the group wrote on
the social networking Web site. Adding, “Furthermore, we have worked
hard as academics for four years: his successes are (thus far)
completely irrelevant to that!” 

Harsh words...but are they true? What do you think? Should James be allowed to give the keynote speech since he's done well for himself, albeit, outside the realm of his studies? Or is it absurd that the university didn't choose something with more academic range?

Photos by INF.