Editorial: A celebrity for commencement, please
By: Editorial Board
Issue date: 6/1/07 Section: Ed-Op
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 3:30 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 3:30 AM EST
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 3:30 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 3:30 AM EST
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Graduation season is upon us again, and the administration has again disappointed us with their choice of graduation speakers.
This year's most recognizable name is Edmund Bossone - yeah, the same guy who donated money to build the Bossone building. Also speaking are: Walter D'Alessio of NorthMarq Capital; Donna E. Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; Charles Isdell, Director of Aviation for the City of Philadelphia and Solomon "Kal" Rudman, a music, show-business leader and the namesake of AWCoMAD's Rudman Institute.
The University is still in an identity crisis. Are we a big league, well respected school in the forefront or are simply "just Drexel?"
The construction and tuition hikes say we want to be a big-time school, but yet our commencement speakers are not household names or well-known public figures. It's a mentality that reflects a "We're just Drexel, no one wants to come here" attitude.
Year after year, we ask but still the selection committee does not include any students. Sure, students are polled for their suggestions, but this has not improved the quality of graduation speakers.
Commencement, while not the defining moment of our collegiate careers, is an important capstone moment for students and their families. Getting a notable public figure would make it a very memorable, special moment for all involved. Listening to University donors in a cramped DAC is not our idea of memorable.
Sure, these people have improved our education and we're thankful for that fact, but one way to tell if you go to a "good school" is to see if celebrities and notable scholars want to receive an honorary degree from your school. It appears that either this is not the case, or the selection committee is not reaching out to notable figures.
Administrators, if you want to increase our dismal 80% retention rate, give students another reason to want to get to commencement, a celebrity speaker. It's time to step up your efforts in bringing big names to this campus. Every year it's the same story, we get midrange bands for Spring Jam and midrange names for commencement. Here's yet another way you can increase school spirit.
This year's most recognizable name is Edmund Bossone - yeah, the same guy who donated money to build the Bossone building. Also speaking are: Walter D'Alessio of NorthMarq Capital; Donna E. Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; Charles Isdell, Director of Aviation for the City of Philadelphia and Solomon "Kal" Rudman, a music, show-business leader and the namesake of AWCoMAD's Rudman Institute.
The University is still in an identity crisis. Are we a big league, well respected school in the forefront or are simply "just Drexel?"
The construction and tuition hikes say we want to be a big-time school, but yet our commencement speakers are not household names or well-known public figures. It's a mentality that reflects a "We're just Drexel, no one wants to come here" attitude.
Year after year, we ask but still the selection committee does not include any students. Sure, students are polled for their suggestions, but this has not improved the quality of graduation speakers.
Commencement, while not the defining moment of our collegiate careers, is an important capstone moment for students and their families. Getting a notable public figure would make it a very memorable, special moment for all involved. Listening to University donors in a cramped DAC is not our idea of memorable.
Sure, these people have improved our education and we're thankful for that fact, but one way to tell if you go to a "good school" is to see if celebrities and notable scholars want to receive an honorary degree from your school. It appears that either this is not the case, or the selection committee is not reaching out to notable figures.
Administrators, if you want to increase our dismal 80% retention rate, give students another reason to want to get to commencement, a celebrity speaker. It's time to step up your efforts in bringing big names to this campus. Every year it's the same story, we get midrange bands for Spring Jam and midrange names for commencement. Here's yet another way you can increase school spirit.
