An individual’s career is not the most important quality to consider when selecting a speaker for the annual commencement ceremony. Rather, it is the message the individual sends to the graduating class that matters.

Syracuse University’s decision to select New York Times columnist and reporter Nicholas Kristof as the 2013 commencement speaker was a wise choice. His writing abilities and astonishing life experiences will allow him to give an inspiring speech that will resonate with the majority of those graduating.

Kristof has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work covering China’s Tiananmen Square democracy movement and his columns on the genocide in Darfur. He has reported on six continents, lived on four and has visited more than 150 countries and all 50 states.

His background will allow his speech to reach beyond the world of journalism. Through his work, Kristof has become an expert on issues related to foreign cultures as well as our own, and has developed an understanding of a variety of topics, including politics and economics.

Because of this, Kristof will be able to deliver a speech that caters to a vast array of student interests at SU, as well as allow these students to gain invaluable knowledge about the world into which they are about to embark.

For some, choosing Kristof as the commencement speaker does not supply enough diversity between the professions of recent speakers, as Bob Woodruff from ABC News gave the speech in 2008.

Though this is a worthy critique, speakers in the past five years have catered to a range of interests and professions. In this time period, SU has welcomed a scientist, screenwriter, business executive and vice president of the United States.

Another shortfall for some in choosing Kristof is that he spoke at SU in November 2010 as a part of the University Lectures Series. This means some students graduating in May have already heard Kristof speak. However, his lecture in 2010 was specifically about women’s rights.

Each commencement speaker comes with a specific professional background that may appeal to a certain niche of students more than others. Though this is inevitably the case, Kristof is a choice that should garner student-wide appreciation due to his life experiences.

Published on March 5, 2013 at 1:43 am

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