How would you like to help pick your commencement speaker? The Undergraduate Senate may make this possible in the near future. On Nov. 15, Sen. Steven Dalton, of the Class of 2010, introduced BILL 09-10-005: “a Bill to Create a Focused Dialogue Between Students and University Administration for the Selection of Commencement Speakers.” The legislation came in response to the university’s decision to change the commencement weekend format starting with this past spring’s ceremonies. Each school now has its own ceremony with its own speaker. But nothing has changed as far as how these speakers are selected.
To be fair, students, staff and faculty have always been encouraged to make suggestions on an individual basis. But as Dalton points out, there has never been an effective method of building consensus. His bill would help set up an e-mail account for each school that students could e-mail their speaker requests to. These suggestions could then be sorted and categorized by members of the SG and then brought to the appropriate people. On the whole, it’s an excellent idea. One thought: the process may be better done through my.american.edu because this would enable the SG to verify the identities of students e-mailing them. This would discourage prank messages and other silliness. But this is a tiny quibble.
Dalton’s bill — even as it looks now — would dramatically increase students’ ability to contribute to the speaker selection process. If it passes, the administration should resolve to take seriously the speaker suggestions students make. This proposal may actually draw bigger name speakers to AU. After all, who wouldn’t be more inclined to give a commencement address if they knew a grassroots coalition of students had requested their presence?
The Undergraduate Senate should consider ways to improve this promising piece of legislation. It has real potential.
