Ivy Commencement traditions differ

Commencement speakers and honorary degree practices vary among Ivies As some of the oldest universities in the country, each of the Ivy League schools has it's own Commencement traditions. Penn is one of only three Ivies that invites an outside speaker to give the principal Commencement address. Harvard University lured Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to speak at its 346th Commencement on June 5. Penn's speaker selection committee also invited Albright -- who is the first female Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. government -- to speak at Commencement, but she had to decline due to scheduling conflicts. Harvard officials noted that her address will mark the 50th anniversary of former Secretary of State George Marshall's 1947 Commencement address at Harvard, in which he announced the Marshall Plan. Harvard does not announce honorary degree recipients before the commencement ceremony. Finnish Prime Minister and 1964 Dartmouth graduate Paavo Lipponen will be the speaker at Dartmouth's 227th Commencement. Lipponen will also receive an honorary degree at the ceremony -- scheduled for June 8. Other honorary degree-winners include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, distinguished writer Sir V.S. Naipaul, Princeton historian Nell Painter, former New Hampshire Governor Walter Peterson, Smith College President Ruth Simmons, National Institutes of Health Director and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus and Harvard sociologist William Wilson. While outside speakers do not customarily give the Commencement address at the other Ivies, they often speak at other events. Brown University held its 229th Commencement on Monday. In keeping with school tradition, two students delivered the main speeches at the actual Commencement ceremony. But author and broadcast journalist Bill Moyers spoke at Brown's Baccalaureate on Sunday. Moyers was among the 10 honorary degree recipients this year. Other honorary degrees went to historian Joyce Oldham Appleby of the University of California, Los Angeles, 1973 physics Nobel prize recipient Leo Esaki, IBM chief executive officer Louis Gerstner Jr., former assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke, author and illustrator David Macaulay, educator Lorraine Monroe, Brown trustee Augustus White III and Taco Inc. Chief executive officer John Hazen White. Columbia University also did not have an outside speaker at its May 15 Commencement. In accordance with tradition, Columbia President George Rupp was the principle speaker at the university's 242nd Commencement. But Columbia did award seven honorary degrees. Recipients included U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield, former Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev, dental expert Irwin Mendel, composer and musician Wynton Marsalis, United Nations refugees commissioner Sadako Ogata, Yale Near Eastern languages professor Franz Rosenthal and mathematical physicist Edward Witten. The university's Medal for Excellence went to 1976 Barnard College graduate Helene Gayle, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cornell University President Hunter Rowlings III was the principle speaker at the school's 129th Commencement on Sunday. However, television personality Beatrice Berry -- host of the nationally-syndicated "Beatrice Berry Show" talk show -- addressed members of the Cornell class of 1997 at Saturday's Senior Convocation. Yale University also held its Commencement exercises on Monday. Because Yale President Richard Levin gives the Commencement and Baccalaureate addresses, visiting dignitaries traditionally speak at Class Day. According to Yale senior and class secretary Shane Macelhiney, the class of 1997 wanted the Class Day speaker to be a former Yale undergraduate who is not an actor or a politician. The class council invited 1955 Yale graduate David McCullogh to speak during Sunday's Class Day festivities. McCullogh is the best-selling biographer of Harry Truman, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, president of the Society of American Historians and narrator of the acclaimed Ken Burns Civil War documentary. Yale's honorary degree recipients included actress Jodie Foster, President Mary Robinson of Ireland, molecular pharmacologist Alfred Gilman, peace champion Carlos Belo, coach and teacher Eddie Robinson, dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison, chemist and environmental advocate Mario Molina, author and illustrator Maurice Sandak, business and civic leader Roberto Goizueta. The president of Princeton University customarily gives the Commencement address. Princeton officials explained that the school broke with tradition last year, inviting President Bill Clinton to speak as part its 250th anniversary celebration. But this year, Princeton President Harold Shapiro will once again give the Commencement address at his school's June 5 ceremony. Princeton also does not release the names of honorary degree recipients until Commencement.