By The Editorial Board
The list of recent commencement speakers at Fordham is an interesting one, to say the least.
In the past fifteen years, many have been white men — some of whom are the same white men who appear on our television screens each evening, delivering the news of the world for media giants like CBS, NBC and ABC.
There is no doubt that these figures are widely accomplished. Some are American icons with inspiring journeys worth telling. Most in attendance would agree that these speakers ignited a flame in Fordham’s graduating class before they went off into the world.
But, with Fordham yet to announce this year’s commencement speaker, we hope that the university deviates from this apparent pattern.
Students at Rose Hill are an ethnically, religiously and geographically diverse bunch.
While some students in Fordham College are communication and media studies majors, many are also science majors, economics majors, computer science majors and art majors. Many have a wide range of interests and many (we hope) are looking to broaden their perspectives.
Two years ago, Fordham hosted Richard Engel, an NBC Middle East correspondent who was recently forced to retract his story about his kidnapping. Similarly, in 2011, Fordham hosted Brian Williams, an NBC news anchor whose exaggerated tales of war subjected him to weeks of intense media scrutiny. Other newsmen also dot the list, including Tom Brokaw, Charlie Rose, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and Ted Koppel.
Outliers of the recent list include John Sexton, New York University president, Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, and John Brennan, the current CIA director whose association with the university is at the center of a faculty-led dialogue about torture. Two baseball figures also have spoken at Fordham, including Tino Martinez in 2014 and Willie Randolph in 2007.
The process of choosing a speaker is not an easy one. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision, scheduling complications and prior commitments among them.
Last year, in a story covering commencement speakers, Bob Howe, Fordham’s chief spokesman, said that the university considers many factors when picking a speaker. “Fordham is competing with every other university in the United States for speakers, even if those commencements don’t fall on the same day as ours,” Howe said. Still, with so many commencement speaker selections resulting in protests in the past few years, many colleges are already signaling a safe year for speakers.
After Rutgers University’s decision to invite Condoleezza Rice, students erupted in protest. This year, Rutgers decided to invite Bill Nye. Stanford University invited Bill Mayer last year, resulting in questions about his views toward the Islamic faith. This year, the school selected Engel, who spoke at Fordham in 2013.
Fordham students pursued a liberal arts to broaden their perspectives, to learn about the world, to think outside the box. The commencement speaker should be a final addition to this journey. We at The Fordham Ram hope that the university announces a commencement speaker whose perspective is comparable to the diverse academic experience Fordham offers its students.
