When Syracuse University announced on Wednesday that Donald Newhouse will deliver the 2016 commencement address in May, it was in line with the types of people usually chosen to give the commencement address.

Newhouse, president of the media company Advance Publications, is a white man in the communications industry, and a Class of 1951 SU alumnus. Those qualities are shared by many past commencement speakers, especially those who have given the address since the turn of the century.

Since 2000, there have been 17 speakers, including Newhouse. Of those, only four were women, eight were writers of some kind — including each of the last four — and five were SU alumni. In addition, only one of those speakers was a person of color — Phylicia Rashad, an actress who delivered the 2004 commencement address.

Chloe Meister | Presentation Director

The lack of diversity among commencement speakers isn’t a new issue. The university archives maintains a list of every SU commencement speaker since 1893, and it shows a lack of diversity dating back to the first speaker.

Of the more than 100 individuals who are listed, only 11 are women.

In the past 50 years, while there have been some speakers who delivered the commencement address multiple times, only five— Rashad, activist Julian Bond, lacrosse player Oren Lyons, singer Pearl Bailey and diplomat U Thant—are racial minorities.

Additionally, in previous ceremonies since 1966, 20 of the keynote speakers have been authors or part of the journalism or communications industry.

“We considered that alumni had been chosen, we looked at the history of who had been chosen, so we evaluated our history and really looked at that and though about what this class might want,” said Tatiana Williams, one of two class marshals for 2016.

The process for selecting a speaker begins with senior class marshals from different colleges and the two Class of 2016 marshals meeting to discuss what type of speaker students would be interested in. After several conversations and some voting, the group submitted a list of a few dozen names to the administration, which ultimately uses the list to make a final decision based on factors such as availability and price.

When all of the class marshals gathered to discuss potential candidates for commencement speaker, Williams said the group was aware that many past speakers lacked diversity, so they took that into account when forming a list of possible choices.

Alexis Peña, the other Class of 2016 marshal, said diversity isn’t just about race or gender, but more about thoughts and beliefs. In that sense, she said she believes Newhouse is a diverse speaker, adding that he brings experience with philanthropy in addition to his place in the media industry.

Williams, a senior social work major, added that the marshals aren’t involved much in the selection process once the list is handed off to the administration, but said they received updates about some of the people that had been contacted by the university and heard who was and wasn’t available.

“I can trust the university did the best they could and the decision was one they put a lot of thought into,” Williams said.

Published on March 23, 2016 at 11:58 pm

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