Alma Matter Rage

When I graduated from the illustrious Hofstra University in 2006, our scheduled commencement speaker was Hofstra Alum and Williams College President Morton Owen Schapiro.

Student reaction was, shall I say, underwhelming . The speech he gave was even more underwhelming that anybody could possibly imagine. The only thing that saved it was the Sen. Schumer showed up, because if you give that guy a microphone, a podium, and a captive audience he will speak, and occasionally it’s interesting. This year, Bob Schieffer, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent and Host of Face the Nation, will return to Hempstead to give the commencement address.

It’s another in a line of safe choices following 2004 speech given by E.L Doctorow, where he spoke out against President Bush and was promptly booed.

At this point in my life I’ve met Bob Schieffer once, and have spoken to him on the phone on multiple occasions. But, when I graduated it would have been great to have a prominent newsman, and fantastic speaker give the commencement address. Instead, we had the senior Senator blather on (somewhat interestingly) and a former student talk about god only knows what, because he didn’t draw anybody’s attention.

Still, my fellow alumnus who sat through boring commencement addresses there is a glimmer of good news here. Hofstra can now attract somebody actually interesting to the university, which means that our degree may actually be accumulation value.