Graduation speaker still to be named
By ALLY JAY
News Writer
From the political to pop culture, Notre Dame seniors have their own ideas for who they'd like to speak at graduation.
"Britney Spears would be great," said senior Andrew Nerlinger.
Senior Elizabeth Cryan had a different take on who should be the commencement speaker. "The Vicor of Christ would be amazing,"said Cryan.
Other interesting suggestions included a fireman that aided in the September 11 tragedy, J.K. Rowling, George O'Leary, Alan Greenspan, and Rudy Giuliani.
According to Denny Moore, director of public relations, it will be sooner rather than later when the commencement speaker and the honorary degree recipients will be announced. In the past, commencement speakers have been announced as early as November and as late as April.
"At this stage in the game, we have a sense of who will be here," Moore said.
What are the stages in the game of attracting a high-profile commencement speaker?
"There isn't a firm timeline for choosing a commencement speaker, rather there's a general time table. The officers of the University have a summer meeting, planning session, where they begin thinking about possibilities. As soon as there is consensus, an invitation is sent," said Denny Moore.
Officers of the University include President Edward Malloy, provost Nathan Hatch, and eleven vice-presidents of the University. While they are the principal individuals who are responsible for brainstorming ideas for the commencement speaker, theoretically any member of the University can contribute an idea for the commencement speaker. Ideas and names can surface any time to reflect changing current national and international events.
"Before the presidential elections last year, the idea was that we would approach the winner," said Moore.
Moore observed that at this point the University does not wish to reveal the possibilities for the commencement speaker until a firm commitment is established by the individual. He also noted that whether or not the University has good contacts with a given individual impacts whether they decide to go after that individual as a potential speaker.
"To use last year's example, you know if you send a letter off to the White House you're looking at pretty long odds. We can't change the graduate date or change our schedules so what determines the length of the process is partly the volatility of the schedules and the prominence of the people we're talking with. For heads of state and heads of government, they may want to be here, but it might not rise to the importance of an international event they have to be at," said Moore.
"With the president last year, we had for sometime an idea that he wanted to come. But we had to wait quite awhile until we knew for a fact that it was on his official schedule and that he would be here barring some unforseen circumstance," added Moore.
In the event than an unforseen circumstance does come up which prevents the designated speaker from attending graduation, an honorary degree recipient is asked to give the commencement speech. As with the commencement speaker, the officers of the University are involved in approving award winners but any member of the University can contribute a name.
"Basically anyone part of the University can come up with names, and over time names accumulate. A name can be in people's minds for years before they receive an honorary degree. There's no prescribed number of people who receive honorary degrees each year. Typically it's about 11, and each college advances a candidate," said Moore.
All News Stories for Wednesday, January 30, 2002
