NPR for Northern Colorado

Rethinking The Commencement Speech Tradition

Speakers bow out amid protests. Colleges continue their obsession with celebrity speakers. As this year's graduation season churns on, is it time to rethink this once noble tradition that many schools now see as a marketing opportunity?

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Eric Westervelt is a San Francisco-based correspondent for NPR's National Desk. He has reported on major events for the network from wars and revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa to historic wildfires and terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Sami Yenigun is the Executive Producer of NPR's All Things Considered and the Consider This podcast. Yenigun works with hosts, editors, and producers to plan and execute the editorial vision of NPR's flagship afternoon newsmagazine and evening podcast. He comes to this role after serving as a Supervising Editor on All Things Considered, where he helped launch Consider This and oversaw the growth of the newsmagazine on new platforms.