The idea of graduating and leaving WashU is still quite unconceivable for many of us. As foreign or scary as that milestone may seem, it is indeed the biggest and most monumental ceremony of the year. With this said, it seemed to me that the process of choosing the speaker for the ceremony was lost among the student body. Not many people know what this process entails, who is involved, and how they can take part. It was brought to my attention that many upperclassmen felt disconnected with the commencement process in this aspect. This was a bit upsetting because I believe that the speaker is a huge part of commencement. It is a major moment and the person who is speaking is setting a tone for the end of your undergraduate career and the beginning of your life after. At the same time, the speaker is representing the university. In the spring, media goes on a whirlwind reporting what school got what speaker. Who got the celebrity of the year? Who has the political figure? What was the best commencement speech?
With all this said, I met with Rob Wild, Assistant to the Chancellor, August 25th to learn more about this process. This is what I found out:
All commencement speakers are Honorary Degree Recipients. The recipients are chosen by the Honorary Degree Committee which consists of teachers, administration, Trustees, and students. These people are appointed, volunteered, or asked to be on the committee. They meet in the Spring the year before the ceremony to consider the nominations for Honorary Degree Recipients. This is where the student body may have their input. The nominations for Honorary Degree Recipients may be submitted from any student with a biography of that nominee . From there, the Honorary Degree Committee looks through all the nominations, taking out the ones that are obviously undoable, and creating lists of possible recipients. It is then the Chancellor's job to start calling the nominees on the lists and to ultimately select the commencement speaker.
This process seems simple enough. However, there are some questions still to be answered. Who are the students that are chosen to be on the Honorary Degree Committee? Who appoints them? This selection process is not going to be changed anytime soon, if at all. However, I hope to continue contact with Rob Wild to answer these questions, and to get more student involvement. I believe the biggest step that can be taken is to make the process transparent. Also, the only notification that students receive about sending in nominations is a small ad in Stud Life around March.
So what now? My hope is that I (and anyone else interested) can advertise the nomination period come spring so that more students are aware. Also, I'm open to other ideas to get more student participation. There are some ideas about a poll of top nominations or what types of people students wanted to see. In the end, I hope to get students more involved with the commencement process and this is indeed the first step.
If you would like to serve on the Honorary Degree Committee or other Chancellor-Appointed Committees, go to http://su.wustl.edu/chancellor-committees for more information and to apply. Applications are due September 9th at 5PM.
