The senior class council has decided to invite Bill Nye back to campus as the 2008 Commencement speaker, just three months after the scientist-turned-comedian drew overflow crowds in a speech at Shriver Hall.
The 2008 class council believes Nye's act, featuring stand-up comedy infused with science, as well as his connection to the current young adult generation via his TV show make him a highly desirable Commencement speaker.
Other candidates for Commencement speaker included Michael Bloomberg, Nancy Pelosi, Thomas Friedman, Queen Noor and Kofi Annan. Annan and others were unavailable due to prior commitments during the date set for the speech. Bill Nye was the first and only candidate to be available and finalized by the administration.
"We were looking for a speaker who had a background in a subject that is prominent at Hopkins. Bill Nye was a mechanical engineer at Boeing, and he's also a scientist. We were looking for someone that was not divisive, who everyone liked, and no one dislikes him. We were looking for someone who had a connection to the school, and both Bill Nye's father and grandfather are alumni. We were also looking for someone who was an academic; he was a professor at Cornell," said Zachary Moor, 2008 class council member.
After Nye's well-received speech, the class council approached the idea of asking him to speak.
"It seemed like very few seniors actually showed up to the symposium, and a lot of them expressed to us that they were really sad that they missed him. We approached him with a lot of recommendations from our peers," said Natasha Singh, president of the 2008 class council.
"I assume student council capitalized on the success of this event, and decided to invite Mr. Nye to Commencement. With that being said, I guess you could say MSE is responsible for bringing Mr. Nye to Commencement," said Jon Bernhardt, MSE Symposium programming chair.
The News-Letter had reported that the graduation speaker would be announced in the middle of December; the council's decision was e-mailed to the senior class the first week of January. Members of Student Council defended the timing of the announcement, which comes at the start of the second semester of the 2007-2008 academic years.
"It's traditional for the seniors to start [making the decision] their senior year," said Kate Jacob, a 2009 class council member.
"We made it [the announcement] as soon as the negotiations were completely finalized. We didn't want to announce a speaker and take it back in case something fell through. I think the precedent has been that seniors find out either really early in second semester or in the December-January time frame," Singh said.
Although the speaker selection process has often been seen by students as mysterious, those involved were willing to speak about it.
"There are a lot of rumors always flying around about graduation speakers. There seems to be some weird mystery about how it happens. It is really up front about how the senior class picks their speaker. Sometimes they'll come to us and say do you know anyone who knows somebody. In this case they did it themselves. They asked Bill Nye," said India Lowres, Commencement coordinator.
The senior class council is responsible for gathering recommendations from its peers, and then compiling a list with those suggestions. After they have finalized their list, they have to decide amongst themselves who it is that they wish to invite. If for some reason the class council is unable to reach a decision or negotiate a speaker in a timely manner, the administration may try to step in and assist them.
"We weren't pushing for anybody, I promise," Lowres said.
Others insist that the selection process was not smooth, citing a lack of communication. There were also certain members of the 2008 class council who neglected their duties by not attending meetings or showing up for them inebriated.
Major complaints revolved around the informal nature of the Commencement speaker selection process. The blame for the choice of speaker was also directed at the system itself; the University does not have a budget with which to entice speakers. Graduation speakers also sometimes receive honorary degrees in return for their efforts. The Honorary Degree Committee has decided to award Nye a degree.
"It's a big deal for Bill Nye since he has a long tradition at Hopkins. He really appreciated it. One of the reasons the negotiations took so long was because he wanted the degree so badly. It was a process the Committee decides," said Julia Cheung, a 2008 class council member.
"It was based on making phone calls, following up and trying to find connections with our peers. Once we pick a candidate and get the date locked in, it's mostly through their agents and the administration in charge of Commencement," Singh said.
Members of the senior class have expressed mixed and often passionate opinions regarding the selection of Nye as the speaker.
"If he hadn't come for MSE earlier, it might have been positive. He might have had some interesting things to say," senior Derrick Kuan said.
"We were stoked to get Bill Nye. We approached him directly afterwards and he told us about how his grandfather went to Hopkins and how he had all these connections to the community," Cheung said.
"I would have preferred Jacques Cousteau," senior Mawena Brathwaite said.
"I'm alright with him. I hope he is funny," senior Amanuel Alemu said.
It is not clear what Nye will be speaking about, although his previous message resonated strongly with students.
"It'll be totally up to him. I'm sure he hasn't even written a speech. This isn't like MSE where they had a theme. He might talk about Hopkins, the environment, Hollywood, I have no [expletive deleted] idea," Moor said.
This year's junior class council is also preparing to make their choice for a Commencement speaker.
"We don't have a speaker yet for our class, but we should know by the end of the semester. We are making efforts to start the process a year early," Jacob said.
