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Courtesy Photo -- Amy Ruth
Lamar Alexander--Former Secretary of Education
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Commencement speaker announced
By Maria Hegstad
Flat Hat Staff Writer
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander will travel 590 miles from his current position as Goodman Visiting Professor of Practice in Public Service at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government to speak at the College's Commencement exercises at 1 p.m. May 12. Those 590 miles are slightly over half the 1,000 miles he walked in 1978 as part of a populist campaign for governor of Tennessee.
The two-time governor will be the principle speaker for the class of 2002. The College will award Alexander and former College Rector Ernest Goodrich, '35, honorary doctor of law degrees.
"For more than three decades -- in his native state and on the national scene -- Lamar Alexander has been an outspoken advocate for education," President Timothy Sullivan said. "As Tennessee's governor, he developed and implemented new programs that raised the level of public instruction, and as secretary of education he led the effort to replicate these programs throughout the country. Our distinguished alumnus Ernest Goodrich is also a dedicated public servant, as well as an extraordinary friend of the College. It is an honor to recognize his service to his alma mater, his state and his nation."
This year's graduating class includes more than 1,800 bachelor's, master's and doctoral candidates.
Alexander received his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in 1962 and a law degree from New York University in 1965. In 1991, he was unanimously confirmed as former President George Bush's secretary of education.
Prior to working for Bush, he worked in the Nixon administration. Alexander also served as the president of the University of Tennessee and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1996 and 2000. Along with his current duties as a visiting professor at Harvard, he is campaigning to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Senate.
Goodrich served the College as rector from 1970 to 1972, and earned his doctor of law and master of law degrees at George Washington University. Goodrich represented Surrey County as commonwealth's attorney from 1939 to 1971.
He served as an aide-de-camp to former Virginia governors Thomas Stanley, Lindsay Almond Jr., Albertis Harrison, Mills E. Godwin Jr., John N. Dalton and Charles S. Robb. Goodrich was a member of the BOV from 1964 to 1972.
In the Flat Hat's March 17, 2000 editorial on the class of 2000's Commencement speaker, Brent Scowcroft, raised concerns that "the Board of Visitors is in a rut in terms of finding a graduation speaker.
Seven of the last eight speakers have been associated with politics or government. Seven have been males. Six have been conservative. And this year follows that pattern."
In response, Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler pointed to student involvement in nominating political and conservative speakers.
"Where the commencement speaker is concerned, the BOV has tried to honor student requests," Sadler said. "Last year, one of the speakers was Madeline Albright‹no one would argue she wasn't conservative."
Ultimately the BOV makes the final decision about the graduation speaker and honorary degree recipients.
"[The BOV] makes the final selection of the [commencement] speaker, because our speakers receive no compensation, by tradition, they receive an honorary degree," Sadler said.
The process of selecting the commencement speaker begins a year in advance, with the rising senior class submitting a list of people they would like to see as speakers to the College's committee on honorary degrees, according to Sadler.
The class of 2002 created an initial list last spring via an e-mail to the entire class, according to 2002 class president senior Zakiya Thomas. Those selections pass to the president and Provost Gillian Cell, who approve their selections and send the resulting list to the BOV.
"We're already working on it for next year," Sadler said, "[Thursday] we'll present the first list to the BOV for the class of 2003."
In the past two years, the results of this months-long process were announced in The Flat Hat in mid-March.
Sadler said that this year's delay was due to the commitments of people on the seniors' lists.
"In recent years we've tried to get people who are public office holders," Sadler said. "With public office holders, it's hard to get more than a 30 day commitment."
BOV secretary Jim Kelly echoed Sadler's sentiments.
Of the BOV's attempts to invite student requests, Kelly said, "often the people students choose are nationally and internationally known, and nationally and internationally busy."
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