Commencement changes

WE SAY Student input should still be considered in speaker selection.

IU President Michael McRobbie has eliminated student input from the process of choosing a commencement speaker.

Under the new system, a speaker is nominated by a faculty member and then reviewed by a series of individuals before being approved by the board of trustees.

Reportedly, the change in the way speakers are nominated precipitated as a result of last year’s disappointment when honorary degree recipient, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, did not get a chance to speak to the graduating class.

That gaffe was indeed regrettable. It would have been nice to hear from Africa’s first elected female president. But such a blunder cannot be blamed entirely on student input, as if the University administration did not foresee such a response.

What is needed in selecting commencement speakers is creativity, common sense and forethought, which does not simply come as a result of eliminating student voice.

Commenting on this change in policy, Larry MacIntyre, IU spokesman, told the Indiana Daily Student that students “don’t get to decide who gets the degree, just like they have no input in who graduates.”

It is true that honorary diploma recipients are not democratically elected. Nor can a sixth-year senior be voted to pass W131 by sympathetic classmates.

But a commencement speaker is different.

Commencement is a chance for students (the ones who choose to go) to be recognized for their achievement. It serves as a celebration of their success.

Honorary degree recipients can most certainly offer words of advice to those successful students, but they should not be invited to speak without student input.

This input must be restored because as we all learned from our illustrious high school graduation speakers, commencement is not an ending, but a beginning. It’s the first day of the rest of our lives – not just a celebration of those receiving honorary degrees.

Don’t make us sit it out; we want to dance.