41 Comments
We're pretty sure he'll be in color when he comes to speak
John “Rick” MacArthur, CC ’78, will return to Morningside May 15 for CC Class Day. A longtime journalist and current president of Harper’s Magazine, MacArthur graduated from Columbia with a B.A. in History and has worked at The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Star, and The Chicago Sun-Times during his illustrious career. He was also described as a “Maverick Journalist” in a 2003 issue of Columbia College Today, so maybe his speech will be, like, edgy.
Portrait of A Maverick via Wikipedia
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41 Comments
@The Anonymous Um. Since when does someone being famous in pop culture make them a good graduation speaker? Why is this guy getting shut down before he’s even said a word? At least he’s actually one of us.
@Anonymous please. you- shut it. making it worse.
@CC '12 This guy sounds cool, but this kid would have made the best speaker ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8
@Real Questions! What’s the process of getting speakers? What are the obstacles? Do speakers get paid? How much? Are there valid reasons why CCSC keeps disappointing?
@alum They have to have graduated from Columbia (or have some strong affiliation… like being the parent of a student… i.e. John McCain). That limits the selection.
@Alum Traditionally, CC Class Day speakers are CC graduates or closely related to the College (faculty, relatives of graduates, etc.). I’m a decade or so behind the times, but my understanding is that Class Day speakers are NOT paid, or at most they are compensated for travel expenses. Combined, these two conditions significantly restrict the available speakers.
But, think of it this way, these are alums of YOUR college who are taking time out of their busy schedules for you. They rightfully view their selection as an honor, and they WANT to speak to YOU because they have a connection to you and can relate to your college experience even if they are separated by several decades.
Every year students stress out about the selection of the Class Day speaker, and everyone complains. I wish Columbia and CCSC did a better job of explaining why things are as they are. I’m not sure if any of you remember the whole Michael Fox saga from a few years back (some students threatened to boycott Class Day). In the end, I think most students appreciated his address, despite many thinking his post-graduation career as an actor made him unworthy as a Columbia graduation speaker.
So, here’s my own graduation advice to you all: before complaining, it’s important to understand why things are as they are. You might find you have less to complain about, or you might complain differently. And, once you have a better understanding of a situation, you can do more than just complain…you can actually take constructive action and make productive recommendations. If you don’t like the CC connection requirement, petition the College to do away with it. Or, raise money for a celebrity speaker (and please don’t start with the “we pay so much for our education so they should throw in a celebrity speaker” line of arguments–yes, you do pay a lot, but no, the University doesn’t have tons of cash just lying around not otherwise spoken for).
@Anonymous le sigh
@Anonymous every year I see class day speakers that suck, but I still maintain an optimistic hope that my year will be different.
I should probably abandon that. Thanks, Columbia.
@Anonymous this is bullshit. that is all.
@Steve Carrell I can stop by on my way to Princeton if you want
@Anonymous If we can’t get Waka Flocka at Bacchannal the least we can do is get him to be our class day speaker.
@Anonymous Why did student council even have us vote?
@CC '12 Dear Mr. MacArthur,
In case you ever read this, I want to thank you for agreeing to speak at my class day. You are an impressive individual who has accomplished much. We are honored to have you as our speaker. The comments on this blog do not represent the best Columbia has to offer.
I look forward to your speech.
@Good Lord, man. Compose yourself; confine your cover letters to Lionshare.
– CC ’12
@Anonymous Everyone needs to grow the fuck up and get over it. The fact that people are actually complaining about this is so elitist.
@Anonymous its not elitist. every graduate can tell you how boring class day is. i know some people who even skipped commencement because they were tired of all the patronising speeches. the least columbia students can expect is someone famous that they can gawk at, not hear more bullshit. but columbia fails yet again…
@Anonymous this is what i thought when i read this:
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
@Hmm Extended orgasm?
– CC ’12
@Anonymous ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
@Anonymous even his wikipedia page is super short and boring. WAY TO GO STUDENT COUNCIL. I knew you sucked all along
@Wait This is a great choice. Harper’s is one of the most important ‘intellectual’ magazines in the country, if not the most. I’m excited!
@Anon congrats 2012 student council. you completely botched your most important job. thanks a lot.
@CC 12 oh wow, my class day speaker is a guy who heads a magazine that is famous for being “the oldest continuously published MONTHLY magazine in America.” so he can enlighten us about working in a redundant profession, at a magazine that has basically only continued existing to give uppity new yorkers something to read while waiting for their doctors appointments.
columbia, I knew I’d be disappointed, but this is a whole new level of ridiculous. we’ll be lucky if CUNY doesn’t get a better speaker than this, let alone every single other ivy.
@H A H - H A H - H A H Columbia never fails to disappoint. I like Harper’s, but–really?
– CC ’12
@oh wow it looks like SEAS has a better speaker this year!
@Anonymous He looks quite dashing in that photo.
Barnard always gets the best speakers.
@Anonymous Obama, Holder, Stephanopolus, Genachowski, Ruth Ginsburg,
@Anonymous To be fair Genachowski has come to speak at Columbia before, although not class day to my knowledge. I just know that he spoke at Spectator’s alumni dinner this year.
@Anonymous And obviously Stephanopolus has spoken here…maybe they just don’t want to Columbia twice in one year?
@Anonymous Holder has also been here, Class day 2009.
@Anonymous You can’t do better than John MacArthur, Columbia?
@Anonymous You can’t do better than Columbia, John MacArthur?
@one day ray RAY SUAREZ FOREVER
@...another year …another shitty class day speaker.
@he sounds cool and i’m looking forward to listening to him.
@LOVE the photo caption!
no clue who this guy is though…
@soooo bored.
@Anonymous who the fuck is this?
@Anonymous It’s not Obama…
@Q That’s not Bono…
@Drizzy Drake I’m just sayin you could do better. Tell me, have you heard that lately?