Search for graduation speaker commences

Home News Search for graduation speaker commences

Last year, two students duelled with sabers for their choice commencement speaker whilst yelling incoherent Errol Flynn quotes on the top balcony of Central Hall. The decision was difficult: Michael Ward or Houdini’s ghost.

One student died, and the other didn’t, leaving Ward, a leading Oxford scholar on C.S. Lewis, the selected orator, according to College Provost David Whalen.

“Have you heard about the student who crashed his van into Central Hall in earnest pursuit of their choice candidate?” Whalen teased.

In all seriousness, Whalen’s lips are sealed about the possibilities for the 2016 commencement speaker as the selection process remains underway.

The deadline for seniors to suggest individuals for the commencement speaker ended Wednesday. Senior class officers will take the suggestions to Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, Vice President of External Affairs Doug Jeffery, and Whalen this week to narrow down the list of candidates.

Senior class president Nick Brown stressed the speaker must not only represent the senior class but the college as a whole, its donors, its faculty, and its mission.

“We want the commencement speaker to represent the senior class because he or she is one of the most important people at the graduation ceremony that inspires us to take what we’ve learned and put it to good and useful things,” Brown said.

To reach a decision, the senior officers will meet with the administration multiple times throughout the year, senior class treasurer Ryan Jelalian said.

The search for the 2016 speaker began in the spring. Newly elected, the senior officers sat down with Arnn to jumpstart the selection process, and they asked for suggestions from their classmates.

After once again surveying the senior class and having Whalen solicit faculty recommendations, the officers typically start with a list of 20 names, which they narrow to roughly nine individuals after meeting with the administrative panel.

With this list of candidates, senior officers will analyze the candidate’s speaking ability via YouTube, consult with friends and colleagues, and return with a smaller list to Arnn, Jeffrey, and Whalen.

“We’re interested in the person’s quality of mind they are bringing to the conversation being had with the senior class, someone who can best address the students and be a person of admiration for the college and its audiences,” Whalen said.

Despite that one third of the nation’s colleges pay their commencement speakers, Hillsdale College does not, although it compensates traveling expenses.

“I find the paying of commencement speakers a sad thing,” Whalen said. “I regard it as unseemly and distasteful.”

“To be asked is an honor because you have been deemed deserving, that your excellence of mind and character is worthy of recognition to place our entire senior class, our friends, all at your feet in rapt attention,” Whalen continued. “That is an enormous responsibility.”