– Wikimedia Commons

Make that two cabinet officials: sources confirm to Bwog that the Class Day speaker will be announced at midday tomorrow on Low Steps, and that discussions are underway with Attorney General Eric Holder, CC ’73 and Law ’76.

Holder, the first African-American attorney general, has previously been Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Deputy Attorney General under President Bill Clinton, and one of three members of President Barack Obama’s vice-presidential selection committee. The two alums were in the news together over the weekend, in fact, when Obama told the New York Times that he disagreed with Holder’s characterization of America as a “nation of cowards” on racial issues. According to Columbia College Today, while in the College, Holder “majored in American history at the College and served as a mentor at a Harlem youth center.” Unlike his boss, who has rarely talked about his time at Columbia, Holder has often returned to Morningside, and was at one point a member of Columbia’s Board of Trustees.  Any questions about the speaker can be addressed to ccsc09@columbia.edu.

And, to help along the inevitable comparisons, here are some other schools’ chosen speechifyers: Eric Schmidt (Penn), Katie Couric (Princeton), Howard Dean (University of Vermont), Christopher Buckley (Yale), Vice-President Joe Biden (Syracuse), and Oprah Winfrey (Duke).

– JCD