It’s commencement season again, that time when illustrious speakers take to the podiums to tell uplifting stories and assure grads that, despite the tent cities forming across America, they are so gonna get a great job immediately.
And as always, the names booked for New York City-area schools are as varied as next year’s cast of “Dancing With the Stars.” You’ve got your political heavyweights (Bill Clinton at NYU), your TV news guy (Brian Williams at Fordham), your feel-good inspirational story (Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone at CCNY) and your filthy-rich business exec (Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg at Barnard).
“Some universities feel that commencement is an experience, and they feel that they want to use commencement as a celebration of success for these students,” says Philip Semas, president and editor-in-chief of the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Part of it is a showoff moment, and part of it is about influencing the graduating seniors and their parents. They want them to leave with a good feeling, after writing that final tuition check, that this was maybe all worth it.”
In short, schools are under pressure to nab big-time speakers who will satisfy the students, improve the college’s rep and generate media attention. Booking high-profile names is difficult because of busy schedules, so a college president will often get a jump on the process, inviting a speaker as early as possible. Phil Rosenthal, the creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and a Hofstra alum, was booked more than a year ago for the school’s May 22 commencement. Yale nabbed Tom Hanks this year, while fellow Ivy League college the University of Pennsylvania landed Denzel Washington. The president of the United States traditionally gives a speech or two each season, and this time, Obama chose the Coast Guard Academy and Miami Dade College.
Columbia, meanwhile, has booked the exact same speaker since 1890: Its own president. Current prez Lee Bollinger will do the honors tomorrow, and despite the university’s apparent pride in this 121-year-old tradition, his appearance does not come without controversy.
“I’m not sure if I really want to listen to Columbia president’s talk at commencement in the rain,” a university student known as “Di” ranted on Twitter. “Don’t even know if he’s funny.”
NYU continues to shine as the Madison Square Garden of universities, with its star-studded booking of celebrity speakers. After Hillary Clinton in 2009 and Alec Baldwin last year, the college has now claimed Bill for its ceremony this month.
As student Ester Steinberg tweeted: “Bill Clinton is doing the commencement speech. Not too shabby NYU!”
Whomever a university books, no choice is likely to satisfy everyone. Opinion at Fordham seems to be split over the choice of NBC news anchor Williams.
“Another below-average choice. Fordham continues with this fascination of people who report the news rather than make the news,” wrote one disgruntled student on a school message board, noting that the university has previously booked other NBC names, including Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert.
Another writer responded, “I like the choice. He’s one of the classiest and brightest people in the broadcast news business.”
Pace students went so far as to take matters into their own hands this year, launching a campaign to book Lady Gaga for their commencement on Sunday. No such luck. Instead they got Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, who will probably not shoot sparks out of her bra.
Other colleges have employed even more desperate means to secure a big name at commencement. Rutgers reportedly paid $30,000 to secure Toni Morrison this year, the first time the university’s paid for a commencement address in its 245-year history. Kean University in New Jersey shelled out $25,000 for John Legend. The University of Oklahoma paid Katie Couric $110,000 for a 2006 graduation address. (She donated the money to charity.)
“When colleges say they don’t pay, either [the person is] waiving their normal speaking fee or they have some connection to the school,” Semas says. “The institutions that tend to pay want a particular speaker and have no connection to that speaker.”
The process of finding a candidate varies slightly from school to school, but generally, almost anyone is allowed to offer suggestions initially, including students, faculty and community members.
“You get strange nominations, but everyone is given fair consideration,” says Dr. Herman Berliner, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Hofstra.
In some cases, candidates can even nominate themselves. Schools occasionally get calls from would-be speakers offering to participate in commencement activities. Berliner says he even gets pleas from locals who lobby to receive honorary doctorates.
“They’re people from the New York community who say they think they’re worthy of an honorary degree,” he says. “We get about one of those every three or four years.”
So far, he says none of those nominees has been approved.
After a short list of vetted names has been assembled, the candidates are forwarded to a president or other senior executive for final approval.
The final list at St. John’s usually contains four to five names, says Pam Shea-Byrnes, vice president for university events. Schools start with their first choice and move down. This year CNBC “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo addressed St. John’s Staten Island campus — and whether or not she had appeared at the top of the school’s original pecking order, she was clearly delighted to be chosen.
“Just gave the commencement address at St. John’s University and received an honorary doctorate degree. What a thrill!” she tweeted after Saturday’s speech.
Even if a choice of speaker is unpopular, there’s one simple way a guest can improve his or her standing with the audience: brevity.
“It’s the ‘Be brief, be sincere, be seated,’ ” Hofstra’s Berliner says. “I’m not gonna name names, but we had years ago a commencement speaker that spoke for 45 minutes and lost the audience. We look for someone who in eight to 10 minutes can give an inspirational message.”
Or if you can boil your speech down to a tweet like Bartiromo later did, you’ll be in good shape. “My speech at St. John’s, 3 themes: work hard, no shortcuts, love what you do, and always do the right thing,” she tweeted Saturday. “Your reputation will follow you.”