Senators Take Exception to Keating Criticism of College Grads, Request Apology for Inaccurate, Damaging Statements

Twenty state lawmakers are urging Governor Keating to retract his inaccurate criticism of Oklahoma college graduates and apologize for suggesting that a majority of them aren't competent enough to enter the working world.

Governor Keating has come under fire for asserting on several occasions that "8 out of 10 Oklahoma college graduates" could not pass a simple company employment test. The Governor initially attributed the claim to a "Fortune 500 CEO," but his office backed away from his contention earlier this week when it was proved that the statement was not only inaccurate, but was never made by a CEO.

In a letter to the Governor, 20 members of the State Senate requested that he "retract the misstatement and publicly apologize for unjustly criticizing the many Oklahomans who have chosen to earn their college degrees in our state.

"As you may know," the letter continued, "one of the most important commodities in today's economic development competition is a state's skilled work force, namely its pool of college graduates. When the quality of that labor pool is publicly criticized or questioned, especially by the
Governor of the state, it hurts Oklahoma's efforts to attract high-paying jobs of new business and industry."

"Certainly, we have many challenges to meet at our state colleges and universities, but wrongly suggesting that the majority of those institutions' graduates are incompetent is neither accurate nor productive. In short, you owe Oklahoma college graduates and the people of this great state an apology," the letter concluded.

This isn't the first time Governor Keating has gotten into hot water for denigrating the quality of Oklahoma workers. Last year, he was taken to task for claiming that the majority of prospective employees in southeastern Oklahoma were either illiterate or on drugs. The Governor later apologized for the remark.