Voting for the 2017 Ohio University commencement speaker is officially open for OU seniors.
All of the nominees in the 10-person list are OU graduates. The list includes former MLB player and Gold Glove Award winner Mike Schmidt, actress Piper Perabo and outgoing OU President Roderick McDavis, whose last day on campus will be Friday.
The ceremony is set to take place April 29.
Seniors are instructed to select their top five choices for speaker, according to an email sent Wednesday from Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones. In a previous Post report, Makenzie Olaker, president of the Student Alumni Board and a senior studying accounting, said students would select preferred speakers from a list of five candidates.
It is the second year in which seniors will be able to vote for their preferred commencement day speakers.
Last year, seniors had the opportunity to select their top five speakers from a list of 16 nominees. Bill Brand, president of the cable channel HSN and chief marketing officer at HSN Inc., was selected to speak, despite Modern Family actor Ed O’Neill receiving the most votes.
Some seniors are not particularly concerned with who will be speaking at commencement. Yonry Zhu, a senior studying mechanical engineering, said he personally doesn’t care who is chosen.
“I think that a good commencement speaker can make an otherwise boring event exciting,” Zhu said. “But I don’t think anyone’s expecting fireworks.”
Ashley Konich, a senior studying nutrition, said she doesn’t really pay attention to the commencement speaker selection process.
“Obviously, you want to have the person who most people believe would be the best fit,” Konich said. “But personally, I don’t want to put in the time to review all the options.”
Conor Fogarty, a senior studying history, said he likes that the university brings back a graduate for commencement, even though he wasn’t aware of the student voting process.
“A lot of students are stressed out about graduation,” he said. “Having a speaker to show that OU grads can succeed would be good motivation.”
Fogarty said he was also surprised to see McDavis’ name on the list of potential speakers due to the “visceral opposition” he has received lately.
“The fact that President McDavis is willing to be there ... I foresee some areas of discussion and perhaps tension from some students,” Fogarty said.
Seniors have until Feb. 22 at 11:59 p.m. to make their selections. The Office of the President holds the final decision over who the 2017 speaker will be.
David Descutner, who will serve as interim president, will preside over the ceremony.
