In a story perfectly designed to be a confluence of topics of interest perhaps only to the DCist staff, WTOP reported yesterday evening that HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who we told you on Friday has been selected to be the commencement speaker at the University of the District of Columbia this weekend, has reportedly come out against the D.C. Voting Rights Act. Jackson is well known for speaking out about his Republican Party’s failure to reach African American voters — but he is still a loyal Bush appointee, so perhaps this stance on D.C. Voting Rights isn’t so surprising.

As you might imagine, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Adrian Fenty, two of the Voting Rights campaign’s biggest supporters, are upset about the idea of Jackson taking the podium at UDC. Norton has already spoken with University President Dr. William Pollard by phone, and Fenty says he plans on speaking with him as well, according to WTOP. President Pollard is really getting it from all sides today.

UDC gets about $50 million in local subsidies from us D.C. taxpayers to pay for the education of D.C. residents. It is somewhat unpalatable to have someone who is publicly against granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives serve as commencement speaker, though we also have a hard time with the idea that we should silence any and all detractors — Secretary Jackson may well have some valuable wisdom to impart to graduates this issue not withstanding, for all we know. But if his speech goes on this weekend as planned, we’d certainly encourage any UDC students in attendance to make their feelings about his stance on voting rights known. With say, a bull horn.