May 03, 2014 10:44 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, will not deliver the commencement address at Rutgers University this May.

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Rice issued a statement Saturday on why she formally declined the invite. Numerous Rutgers students and faculty have been outspokenly opposed to Rice's appointment from the start.

"Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families," Rice said in her statement. "Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time."

Rutgers' Board of Governors voted to approve the commencement address, which was to pay Rice $35,000. Those who opposed the appointment did so because they disagreed with the Bush Administration's invasion of Iraq over the suspicion the country had access to WMDs.

About 50 students staged a sit-in earlier this week at Rutgers' administrative building, sitting near the staircase leading to the Office of the President, Robert Barchi. The school's president and the board said they were not going to disinvite Rice and welcomed the protestors, Fox News reported, saying they had every right to exercise their First Amendment rights.

Saturday's statement is the first time Rice has commented publicly on the matter.

"I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here," she said in the statement. "As a Professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as it's former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."

Rutgers has not yet named a new commencement speaker.

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