OT: Commencement Speaker

[Scott Kominkiewicz \'84]

The CU homepage announces that Danny Glover will be this year's commencement speaker.  When did Cornell change its policy of having its president serve as commencement speaker?  BTW, I thought Frank Rhodes was pretty damn effective.

[Al DeFlorio]

This is the first I've heard of a change..but that doesn't mean it hasn't been changed for a long time.

Who or what is Danny Glover, and why should about-to-be Cornell graduates care what he/she/it has to say?

Please tell me Cornell isn't seeking cheap notoriety by handing out bogus honorary degrees now. ::uhoh::

[curoadkill]

I'm pretty sure it's convocation and not commencement that Danny Glover is speaking at. That's what I see on the CU homepage anyway.

[Greg Berge]

Well, one Dan Glover is an incoming defenseman for the fall of 2003.

[jtwcornell91]

This is, after all, standard operating procedure.  There is a guest speaker (ours was David Drinkwater, in a wonderful you've-never-heard-of-him-but-he-means-a-lot-to-us move), but he/she speaks at a separate event and not the commencement itself.  And does not get an honorary degree.

Trivia question: name the only two people ever to receive honorary degrees from Cornell.

[rhovorka]

Trivia Answer: A.D. White and the first president of Stanford (who I had to look up as being David Starr Jordan, also a graduate of the first 4-year class at Cornell)

[Al DeFlorio]

Both worthy choices.

Andrew Dickson White, along with Daniel Coit Gilman of Johns Hopkins and Charles William Eliot of Harvard, changed the face of American higher education in the latter half of the 19th century.

[jtwcornell91]

Al DeFlorio wrote:

Andrew Dickson White, along with Daniel Coit Gilman of Johns Hopkins and Charles William Eliot of Harvard, changed the face of American higher education in the latter half of the 19th century.

...and ironically also established the policy of not awarding honorary degrees.

[Al DeFlorio]

Quite a visionary, eh?

[Erica]

Who is Danny Glover? Didja ever see Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3, or 4? He also happens to be a big activist, in what I don't know.

[Scott Kominkiewicz \'84]

I'm pretty sure it's convocation and not commencement that Danny Glover is speaking at. That's what I see on the CU homepage anyway.

My bad.  I guess I should practice what I preach and read more carefully.  But still, why Danny Glover?  I'd rather hear from Derrick Harmon.

[Greg Berge]

I thought the following situation was funny.  This year's University of Oregon commencement speaker is Katie Marie Harman.  For anyone not in Oregon, she's Our Very Own F*cking Miss America (I think that's her official title) and we're proud of her thank you.

Anyway, there was a whole big deal about it because she's a current UO student (I assume her major is Applied Makeup) and at first they were actually going to give her the honorary degree, but that (obviously) cheesed off the students.  This is what passes for controversy out here.

[jtwcornell91]

Well, it is supposed to be a scholarship program...

[cquinn]

Speaking of speeches....  I'll be giving one this weekend and need to provide a bio for my introduction.  Anybody know how to say "goes to loads of Cornell hockey games" in a manner that would be terribly impressive to the non-believer?  :-))

[jtwcornell91]

You could mention your CHA membership, which makes you a supporter of intercollegiate athletics at your alma mater.