Thanks to a new system at Syracuse University, students will have more say in whose words of wisdom they hear on graduation.

Mary Jane Nathan, director of special events at SU, said the university has created a new Web site allowing anyone to write in suggestions for commencement speaker. The website, www.syr.edu/calendars/commencement, began taking candidates Sunday. The deadline to add candidates is November 8.

“We are creating a Web site so that anyone in the community will be able to make suggestions,” said Sandra Hurd, associate university marshal and professor in the School of Management.

Feedback about the selection of last year’s commencement speaker, Rudolf Giuliani, caused Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw to form a committee to discuss the speaker-chosing process. He appointed Hurd and Robert McClure, senior associate dean and professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, to co-chair the Commencement Speaker Advisory Board, to review the old procedure and make suggestions for changes, Nathan said. The board suggested the marshals of each of the colleges within the university and three student representatives be a part of the selection process and suggested the formation of the Web site. The board, composed of faculty, students, and staff, met this fall and Shaw approved their proposals on Oct. 15.

Elizabeth Dickey, a junior management and entrepreneurship major and member of the advisory board, said it is important for students to have a voice in the speaker selection. She added that involving students in the process would decrease the likelihood of a speaker causing controversy on campus.

“I think it will be a huge tool in bringing in someone less controversial or that students want,” Dickey said.

Although students have a say in the candidates, they will not make the final decision. The board will narrow the candidates down to approximately 15 and bring that list to the chancellor.

“The chancellor will make the final decision and will choose the speaker based on his availability, affordability and appropriateness,” Nathan said.

SU Student Association President Colin Seale found last year’s process extremely flawed. He cited the lack of discussion and the fact that the board in charge of selection did not meet enough. Nathan said the board this year will meet at least twice to discuss candidates, and the process for the 2004 commencement speaker will begin this spring to give the chancellor’s office enough time to schedule a speaker.

Seale, a junior computer science major and member of this year’s board suggesting the changes, said not many students in the past knew about how SU chose its commencement speaker.

“It will give students a chance to have a say in who comes here for graduation,” Seale said.

Jason Morey, a senior aerospace engineering major, said the Web site will allow students with varying viewpoints to have a say in the candidates, but suggested that the selection would still not make some students happy.

“I think it will help but there will always be a people who do not agree,” he said.

Published on October 29, 2002 at 12:00 pm