Tilghman to speak at NYU graduation

President Tilghman will speak at graduation day at New York University after being selected to receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

"Shirley Tilghman is a leader in science and in higher education, and she was chosen to be a recipient of an honorary degree because of the outstanding example she sets in pursuing knowledge and fostering academic excellence," said NYU spokesman John Beckman in an email.

NYU graduation ceremonies differ from those at most universities in that there is no keynote speaker. Instead, Tilghman will deliver remarks to NYU's graduating class on behalf of the four honorary degree recipients.

"I am speaking briefly on behalf of all the recipients to thank the university for the honor they have bestowed on us," Tilghman said in an email.

The announcement met with some criticism from NYU students and was decried in the student newspaper.

"Both the graduating class and the university as a whole deserve more appealing and prestigious commencement speakers," wrote the editorial board of the Washington Square News, NYU's student newspaper.

The NYU campus newspaper cited Maya Angelou, Jon Stewart and Gabriel Garcia Marquez as better potential picks. Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and a Princeton native, spoke at Princeton's Class Day last May.

Beckman said Tilghman was an excellent choice to receive an honorary degree.

"In selecting the candidates for honorary degrees, the University community — students, trustees, faculty and administrators — choose candidates who exemplify the characteristics we hope our graduates will embrace as they leave us and go forward in the world following Commencement," Beckman said.

Beckman added that Tilghman was chosen in part because she epitomizes the two mottos of New York University: perstare et praestare (to persist and to excel) and "a private university in the public service."

Tilghman also holds honorary degrees from Oxford, Harvard, Yale and Dickinson College, among others.