Regents confirm Bollinger as speaker

The University Board of Regents formally invited University President Lee Bollinger on Friday to deliver the keynote address for next month's Spring Commencement ceremonies.

Honorary Degree Recipients
Berry
Roberts
Fiske
Godunov

"We wanted to give the new president, at his first commencement, an opportunity to set out his views to graduating students and to the University community," said Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Arbor). "The tradition here is the incoming president is given the opportunity to speak at the commencement ceremony. It is a gesture of respect."

Former President Harold Shapiro, who took office in 1980, was the keynote speaker at the 1981 Spring Commencement and James Duderstadt delivered the keynote address at the 1989 ceremony, shortly after he took office.

Bollinger was selected as the 12th University president by the regents last November and took office in February.

However, many graduating seniors remained skeptical about the tradition, and said they are disappointed that Bollinger will be the keynote speaker.

"I thought it was a little disappointing," said LSA senior Marius Commodore. "I think a commencement speech by the new president during his first term is appropriate, but as a graduating senior I was hoping to hear someone with more pizazz.

"I would have preferred someone with national fame, especially at a university like this. We should be able to attract someone more nationally known," Commodore said.

Angie Farleigh, an SNRE senior, said she was not aware that it was a tradition for a new president to deliver the keynote address.

"If it's a tradition, I want to know how far it goes back," Farleigh said. "Anyone can hear him speak. I have friends who are flying in, family members who are pissed that it's Bollinger who's speaking."

LSA senior John Garretson said the selection of Bollinger as the keynote speaker demonstrated the University's failure to recruit a nationally recognized speaker.

"I guess it'll be interesting to see his views and where he's taking the University in the future," Garretson said. "It also seems they failed to go out and get a voice we wouldn't have heard from normally."

Other graduating seniors said they were curious to hear what the new president would have to say.

"I've heard him before, so I'm not at all disappointed," said LSA senior Jill Greenlee. "He's an excellent speaker - I'm just happy to be graduating."

LSA senior Sean Parini said he is looking forward to hearing Bollinger speak.

"It'll be nice for the senior class to go out and hear the new president," Parini said. "No one else has really heard him."

The regents also approved a list of honorary degree recipients at their Friday morning meeting.

This year's honorary degree recipients include: Mary Frances Berry, chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission; Robert Fiske Jr., a trial lawyer and former independent counsel to the Whitewater investigation; Sergei Godunov, a Russian mathematician; and Eugene Roberts, managing editor of The New York Times.

04-21-97