Washington University announced Monday that Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” will speak at the University’s Commencement ceremony in May.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton says Matthews is a good choice because he is in touch with current social and political issues.

“Chris Matthews continues to be an important figure in the national news media with respect to the American political process,” Wrighton said in a University press release. “He is familiar with both Washington University and the pressing challenges that face our society today-challenges that our new graduates will be working to overcome and address.”

Student Union President Neil Patel, a member of the committee that helped select the Commencement speaker, says having Matthews speak is a good way to promote political participation.

“Chris Matthews is an excellent choice for people on campus who are politically aware. He’s an exciting person. He has definite name recognition. He’ll get people’s interest piqued,” Patel said.

Patel added that in the future, the committee should select speakers who are more connected to the University.

“In the future it would be good for the University to focus on people who have stronger ties to the University and aren’t mass-market commencement speakers,” Patel said. “Someone who has a strong connection with the University, who can share in our experience, can be an effective and motivational speaker.”

In addition to political issues, Patel hopes Matthews will address the broader role of college graduates in the world today.

“I hope [Matthews] will be speaking about what role we can play in the U.S. as a whole, not just in the political arena,” Patel said. “What he thinks the biggest challenges we face as students are, how we’ve been prepared for that.”

In recent years, Commencement has featured other political figures such as Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” and former British Prime Minister John Major. Patel says that the University should not rely on the assumption that speakers involved in the political sphere will increase political involvement on campus.

“I don’t think it’s an inappropriate choice, but we shouldn’t have the expectation that having Chris Matthews at Commencement will make people more politically involved,” Patel said.

According to Patel, many students had former Vice President Al Gore as their first choice but understand the difficulty of bringing him to campus.

“My top choice was Al Gore. That was the top choice of almost every other student [on the selection committee],” he said. “Al Gore is a dream speaker. We knew there was a good chance he would not come.”

Matthews has appeared on NBC’s “Today” show and has also spoken at several college campuses. Before working at NBC, Matthews worked as a reporter at the San Francisco Examiner and under former President Jimmy Carter, in addition to publishing four books.

Patel says that Matthews is still a good choice for a commencement speaker because he can draw on those experiences to comment on the world that graduates will enter.

“He may be meant to push seniors to action,” Patel said. “It’s a way to incite people to do something, to change the worlds they are about to enter. That’s the goal of any speaker.”

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