The Office of the Secretary announced Tuesday that this year’s commencement speaker will be Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington. He was selected in conjunction between the administration and a student advisory committee that focused on having a speaker from the arts and entertainment industry.
In 1979 another name from the entertainment industry was selected and confirmed as the commencement speaker: playwright Tennessee Williams. This marked the first time that students were involved in the selection process, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. This prerogative was obtained through a student sit-in in College Hall a year before.
In choosing the 1979 speaker, the Senior Class Board organized a democratic selection process with a referendum in order to invite names that students most wanted to see. While seeking out the speaker, the administration always checked with the board to make sure it approved. Although Williams ended up cancelling that May, as 1979 Senior Class President Steve Roth said, the administration kept the seniors involved in the process so that “the students knew what was happening all along.”
Here's the front-page story from 1979:
