This year, Erskine Bowles will join the list of sadly unimpressive speakers, to take the stage as the keynote commencement speaker at N.C. State's spring graduation ceremony. While Bowles is accomplished in his own right and has played an important role in North Carolina politics, as a high ranking and progressive University, we should really be able to attract a more dynamic and profound speaker. It is clear that University officials are too scared to invite a speaker who is at all controversial, and for the past several years, has been attracting conservative but ultimately dull individuals.
In the past decade the most inspiring commencement speaker we have had was talk show host Phil Donahue, and he still left something to be desired. Even if you regard Donahue as an engaging orator, he came five years ago in 2005 and since then, it has been slim pickings. Last year's spring speaker was Kenneth Olden, a former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science and in 2006 the speaker was the president of the National Academy of Science Ralph Cicerone. Who are these obscure speakers? The fact that no one could possibly know who they are offhand is the crux of the problem.
When we compare our speakers in the past few years with the keynote lecturers at our neighbor UNC-Chapel Hill, our choices look even more ridiculous. UNC speakers such as Madeleine Albright in 2007, Bill Cosby in 2003 and Sen. John Edwards in 2002 cast a shadow over the already unknown speakers at our University. This is a trend that needs to stop after this year. Graduating seniors deserve a truly motivational speaker to deliver one of the final speeches they see in college.
In 2003, Donahue's address did not go over well with some of the more politically conservative audience members, and officials on stage were embarrassed by jeers and boos from the crowd. Since then, commencement speakers have been notably clean-cut and reserved individuals. The problem with choosing more laid back orators is that ultimately, we end up with boring speakers. We need to do better in the future so our seniors can be sent off in style.
