Frank Rich Chosen as Commencement Speaker
Monday, May 9th, 2011
This year The New School can expect a more favorable reaction from students and faculty on its choice of a commencement speaker. In March, the university announced that Frank Rich, the former *The New York Times* op-ed columnist, will deliver the keynote address at graduation
on May 24.
The New School’s recent history of commencement speakers is most remembered for the speech delivered by Senator John McCain in May 2006 that was so disastrous it received widespread media coverage. Graduating students and faculty members responded to McCain’s
appearance by booing him and holding up banners in defiance.
One student speaker, Jean Sara Rohe, even set aside her prepared speech to denounce McCain.
"The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded,” Rohe said in her speech. “This invitation was a top-down decision that did not take into account the desires and interests of the student body on an occasion that is supposed to honor us above all.”
Bevis Longstreth, one of two board of trustees members who sit on the honorary degree committee, agreed that the McCain event was a disaster.
“It was an outrage in so many ways,” Longstreth said. “There was nothing in what he had to say that reflected that he had a clue about New School University and who we are.”
In a statement released on April 11, Rich said he was honored to be involved in the graduation ceremony at The New School. He called the institution “a rare academic citadel of independent thought at a time when mercantile careerist values increasingly dominate institutions of higher learning.”
Rich caused a stir last month when he announced that he would be departing from The New York Times after 31 years at the publication for “personal reasons,” leaving behind an extremely popular weekly essay in The Times’s Sunday Week-in-Review section. He became a film and television critic in 1971, writing for publications like Time and The New York Post, before eventually settling in at The Times. He transitioned from chief theatre critic at The Times to op-ed columnist in 1994, a title he will relinquish in June when he moves to New York Magazine.
Longstreth, who nominated Rich as an honorary degree recipient to the degree committee for the previous three years and authored his encomium (the written tribute bestowed upon honorees), believes that Rich is “unique in the field of journalism, in part because of his background as a theater critic.” Longstreth finally had his wish granted last year when Bob Kerrey chose Rich as the commencement speaker.
“[After] Mr. Rich accepted the invitation to receive an honorary degree, I called to ask him if would speak and waive his fee,” Kerrey wrote in an email to the Free Press.
“He’s a keen observer of society,” Longstreth added. “I think that he would have an immediate understanding of the history of The New School, and what The New School tries to do.”
The New School’s recent history of commencement speakers is most remembered for the speech delivered by Senator John McCain in May 2006 that was so disastrous it received widespread media coverage. Graduating students and faculty members responded to McCain’s
appearance by booing him and holding up banners in defiance.
One student speaker, Jean Sara Rohe, even set aside her prepared speech to denounce McCain.
"The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded,” Rohe said in her speech. “This invitation was a top-down decision that did not take into account the desires and interests of the student body on an occasion that is supposed to honor us above all.”
Bevis Longstreth, one of two board of trustees members who sit on the honorary degree committee, agreed that the McCain event was a disaster.
“It was an outrage in so many ways,” Longstreth said. “There was nothing in what he had to say that reflected that he had a clue about New School University and who we are.”
In a statement released on April 11, Rich said he was honored to be involved in the graduation ceremony at The New School. He called the institution “a rare academic citadel of independent thought at a time when mercantile careerist values increasingly dominate institutions of higher learning.”
Rich caused a stir last month when he announced that he would be departing from The New York Times after 31 years at the publication for “personal reasons,” leaving behind an extremely popular weekly essay in The Times’s Sunday Week-in-Review section. He became a film and television critic in 1971, writing for publications like Time and The New York Post, before eventually settling in at The Times. He transitioned from chief theatre critic at The Times to op-ed columnist in 1994, a title he will relinquish in June when he moves to New York Magazine.
Longstreth, who nominated Rich as an honorary degree recipient to the degree committee for the previous three years and authored his encomium (the written tribute bestowed upon honorees), believes that Rich is “unique in the field of journalism, in part because of his background as a theater critic.” Longstreth finally had his wish granted last year when Bob Kerrey chose Rich as the commencement speaker.
“[After] Mr. Rich accepted the invitation to receive an honorary degree, I called to ask him if would speak and waive his fee,” Kerrey wrote in an email to the Free Press.
“He’s a keen observer of society,” Longstreth added. “I think that he would have an immediate understanding of the history of The New School, and what The New School tries to do.”
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