Class day speaker not yet announced

The last time that a speaker was announced this late in the year was in 2006, when the graduating class did not announce finalized negotiations to bring former president Bill Clinton to campus until April 17. Last year, the Class of 2009 announced its speaker, “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric, in February. The Class of 2008 announced its speaker as Stephen Colbert in September, while the Class of 2007 revealed its speaker, actor Bradley Whitford, in March.

The Class of 2010 Class Day chairs — Henry Barmeier, Joel Alicea and Bryan Frist — declined to comment on the committee’s progress.

But class day chairs of recent graduating classes said that negotiations could be in the final stage, and that seniors should not be worried.

“If they’re going for a Hollywood figure, they may have crazy demands and security to deal with so they may have someone lined up but are still working through the nitty-gritty,” said Shaun Callaghan ’06, one of his class’s Class Day chairs. “On the other hand, they might not have someone lined up yet and might still be looking.”

Callaghan, who worked with his fellow chairs Harrison Frist ’06, the son of former Senate majority leader Bill Frist ’74 (R-Tenn.), and Lauren Bush ’06, the niece of former president George W. Bush, to bring the 42nd president to campus, recalled that Clinton was selected in mid-March, roughly one month before he was announced.

“I think the biggest obstacle is getting the speaker to come speak for free,” Callaghan said, adding that this year’s seniors may have already selected a speaker and could be finalizing negotiations.

Jonathan Galeano ’08 explained that he and his fellow members of the 2008 committee were able to announce their speaker in September in part because of the previous class’s efforts.

“It all depends on what type of contacts the leaving class officers leave the incoming ones,” he said. “The year before us worked really hard, and they had some pretty good contacts that we could use.”

Galeano said the agreement with Colbert came relatively easily.

“We tried those contacts, and everything worked out all right,” he explained. “Everything fell into place, and we were able to have our Class Day speaker announced much quicker than most people.”

Though Class Day is growing closer, P.G. Sittenfeld ’07, a member of his class’s Class Day committee, said the delay in this year’s announcement should not be worrisome for students.

“The important thing to remember about Class Day is that the event is really meant to be a celebration of the seniors and an opportunity to reflect on the previous four years,” he said. “While the guest speaker seems to loom large, every year the most fun, funny and poignant speeches inevitably come from the students. I’d encourage seniors not to sweat the speaker selection and to instead spend their energy soaking up the homestretch with their friends, asking that crush from freshman year out on a date and going to lunch with a favorite professor.”

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Like Callaghan, Galeano said that there are still many opportunities for this year’s committee to announce their speaker.

“Sometimes you can get someone who’s got an open schedule this time of the year, and sometimes you might get a person who is a good speaker, but you don’t know if they are [available] that day,” he said.

In any case, this year’s committee has so far avoided the nightmare scenario.

As Galeano explained, “You don’t want to be in a position where you have to retract.”

— Staff writers Christina Henricks, Jason Jung, Andrew Sartorius and Sean Wu contributed reporting.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Joel Alicea ’10.