While David Remnick is an excellent choice as the Class of 2014 commencement speaker, the Commencement speaker recommendation committee should have addressed the lack of diversity with speakers in the last few years.

Remnick is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the editor of The New Yorker, one of the top magazines in the country. On Monday, SU announced he would be delivering the 2014 commencement address on May 11 at the Carrier Dome.

Remnick is an excellent choice because many writers have the skill set to deliver great speeches, and the many subjects that are covered by The New Yorker give Remnick a perspective on more than just journalism, which many students can relate to.

As one of the final moments a person will remember about his or her time as a student at SU, the commencement speaker should provide a strong, inspirational speech that students connect to and take to heart. Remnick will be able to provide that with his experiences as the editor of The New Yorker.

However, SU should take into consideration this is the third year in a row SU had a person in the communications field as the commencement speaker, after New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof  spoke in 2013 and Aaron Sorkin, the creator of “The West Wing” and “The Newsroom,” spoke in 2012.

With commencement speakers, SU has not been very diverse in its selection. Of the 19 commencement speakers since 1995, including Remnick, five have been in the field of communications. This means more than one-fourth of the speakers in nearly 20 years have been involved in the media.

In the past, SU has had speakers from varying fields, such as Billy Joel, Bill Clinton and Jane Goodall. The committee should make more of an effort to rotate the types of commencement speakers each year, rather than having a writer three years in a row.

The commencement speaker should be a person that can appeal to students across the entire campus, in fields that represent other aspects of the university, such as business, arts, politics and science, among others.

Remnick is a strong choice for SU’s 2014 commencement address, but he will become another addition to the list of writers that have spoken at SU. For future commencements, the university should strongly consider diversifying its selection.

Published on April 1, 2014 at 1:00 am

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