Editorial | Students should choose their Commencement speaker

When it was announced that Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian, would serve as Penn’s Commencement speaker, the Class of 2026 was largely disappointed. Last year’s address, delivered by 1996 College graduate and actress Elizabeth Banks, left expectations quite high for the current senior class. Yet this disappointment is nothing new. 

The Class of 2024 Commencement speaker, Siddhartha Mukherjee, was an equally frustrating announcement at the time, since it followed an address by actress Idina Menzel in 2023. This pattern is not a coincidence, nor is it simply the result of taste. It illustrates a structural problem: Penn students have virtually no say in who steps up to the podium on the most consequential morning of their undergraduate lives.

Insult was added to injury for this year’s class of undergraduates when Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was announced to be the keynote speaker for the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s graduation ceremony. Many students expressed further dismay at this revelation, since they considered him preferable to the speaker chosen for the University-wide ceremony. Even worse, the Wharton School’s MBA Commencement ceremony will feature Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, another more popular speaker among Penn’s undergraduate students.

To be clear: Beschloss is a distinguished and successful man. He has published nine books, serves as a presidential historian at NBC News and as a PBS contributor, and his most recent book earned a spot on The New York Times Best Seller list. But students weren’t struck by success alone. The University’s choice wasn’t ill-fated, but it is irrelevant. Penn students are surrounded by this type of academic success throughout the entirety of their undergraduate tenure.

Students wanted something else. They wanted a new kind of inspiration for their graduation day, not the same type of speech they could hear in a lecture. While it’s unrealistic to assume that any celebrity could be secured for Commencement, there are more representative ways to approach the selection of a Commencement speaker. Currently, undergraduates play almost no formal role in this process.

The committee that selects candidates for honorary degrees gives only two of its 16 seats to undergraduate students. It also remains unclear if that small group of undergraduates has any say in speaker selection, beyond who will receive an honorary degree. To be eligible to join the committee, a student must be a member of the University Council, which has only about 15 seats for students either elected into, or nominated by, branches of Penn Student Government. For most students, membership on Council, and by extension, influencing who receives an honorary degree, is far out of reach.

The solution does not need to be radical. Penn could formalize student representation for the specific purpose of speaker selection. It could create a system where each student has a vote. Penn could even simply elicit student opinions in a broad survey to be considered for speaker selection. One example we could follow is the system at Ohio State University. There, anyone can directly nominate a Commencement speaker. Then, their system is similar to Penn’s: a large committee with a few undergraduate students. Yet, those students have a direct say in who serves as Commencement speaker. While their system isn’t perfect and still underemphasizes undergraduate representation, a dedicated committee for speaker selection, not just honorary degrees, is a step in the right direction. 

Another step would be to rethink what the University is actually optimizing for in its selection process. Right now, the emphasis appears to fall on prestige and traditional markers of achievement. But Commencement is not an academic lecture or a professional conference. It’s a moment to reflect and look to the future. A more effective approach would prioritize speakers who can speak to uncertainty and the reality of entering a world that many students feel unprepared for. Those very topics dominated the lauded and popular Commencement address given last year by Banks.

These inputs are exactly what students could provide. There are many people that fall into the disciplines that Penn has put forth for the designation of honorary degrees who can also relate more directly to students graduating. After all, Commencement is a celebration for them, not for Penn.

The Class of 2026 deserves a Commencement that feels like theirs. So does the Class of 2027, and the class after that. Commencement is meant to celebrate years of effort and growth. It should not feel imposed from above. Instead, it should feel shaped by those it aims to honor. Penn has the institutional strength to build a better system. In future years, we must demand that they actually do so.

Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board who meet regularly to discuss issues relevant to the Penn community. This body is led by Editorial Board Chair Jack Lakis and is entirely separate from the newsroom. Questions or comments should be directed to letters@thedp.com.