The past few years, students have been largely unhappy with the Commencement speakers selected by the University. Already this year, many students have expressed pronounced disappointment over this year’s speaker choice, Chris Matthews. The frustration is no surprise given the negative reactions to last year’s speaker, Tim Russert, who is similar to Matthews in many ways.

Recently, the University has chosen to bring a series of political speakers to campus to speak at graduation and in other capacities. It is time for the University to consider a new type of speaker, and it should do so by more actively engaging the student body in the selection process.

Chris Matthews will speak at Commencement after a series of other political pundits and personalities. The past few years of Commencement speakers have included Tim Russert (2007), Sir John Major (2006), Richard Gephardt (2005), Thomas Friedman (2004), and Madeline Albright (2003).

In 2002, seniors heard from Ruth Simmons, the president of Brown University who had recently been named the best college president in the country by TIME Magazine. This is the most recent time Wash. U. selected a speaker who was not purely political. While Russert, Major, Gephardt, Friedman and Albright all certainly had different messages, they are related to politics. Simmons, on the other hand, represents a choice of speaker who could talk to students about issues outside of the political arena.

While it’s true that political speakers have important messages to share with students, Wash. U. has recently overdosed on political commentators. This year’s seniors have experienced a presidential debate and had a chance to hear from an array of political speakers through the assembly series.

The number of students studying political science and active in politics does not justify the focus on political speakers. With so many talented and interesting individuals contributing to our society from areas other than politics, Wash. U. should be able to select a speaker, to motivate students, who is different from many of the other speakers students have had the chance to listen to throughout their collegiate experience. Hearing Chris Matthews speak just isn’t a capstone experience-he is similar to speakers students have heard time and time again throughout their years at Wash. U. (and, in fact, Matthews has already been here within the past four years).

Unfortunately, Chris Matthews has already been selected to speak at Commencement, so students upset over the choice have no ability to influence the administration. However, we can ensure that the University is informed of student opinion about the graduation speaker before it selects one by more actively participating in the selection process.

A call has already been issued for input in Honorary Degrees in 2009, meaning that the process for choosing a speaker has started. Students should take part in this process and submit names for speakers they would be interested in hearing. Students should think realistically about submitting names of speakers who might actually have time to speak at a graduation ceremony. Students should also think creatively about who could deliver a fresh message of inspiration.

Only by being proactive can we affect the decision of who will speak at our respective graduations.

Finally, the administration should take a larger role in empowering students to help choose their speaker. The current process has been poorly publicized, making it effectively unavailable to most students. Commencement is an incredibly important moment in students’ lives and the speaker should be someone the students want to hear. Student enthusiasm is invaluable to the success of a speaker. The process for student nomination of speakers should be well publicized, easy, and important in the decision for future Commencement speakers.

This year’s speaker selection was an unfortunate choice by the administration given the current climate at Wash. U. But future classes should be able to avoid the disappointment of this year’s class if the administration does a better job soliciting student input and if students fully take advantage of the power they have in influencing the speaker selection. In the future, let’s do our best to make sure Commencement exercises reach out to the graduating seniors.

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