45 CommentsSeniors just got an email with a lot of capital letters and Z’s instead of S’s (student council…it’s just like Bwog!)
Included in that email was a list of potential Class Day speakers. And here they are:
- Richard Axel, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist.
- Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of the Washington Post; not as dashing as Bill Keller.
- Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice.
- Ric Burns, your and Eric Foner’s favorite PBS documentary producer, his daughter niece Lily graduated a few years ago.
- Alexandra Wallace Creed, executive producer of NBC Nightly News, CC’88
- Julius Genachowski, Chairman of Federal Communications Commission
- Sen. Judd Gregg, Senator from New Hampshire
- Pres. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia
- Jodi Kantor, New York Times journalist
- Anne Kornblut, Washington Post journalist
- Li Lu, Columbia alum and Chairman of Himalaya Capital Management
- Terrence McNally, former Varsity Show writer, current playwright
- Michael Mukasey, CC’63, 81st Attorney General of the United States
- Anna Paquin, still on a leave of absence from Columbia after a year of college, that girl from True Blood
- Elizabeth Rubin, New York Times journalist
- Julia Stiles, former John Jay resident
- Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent for PBS Newshour
Discuss!
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45 Comments
@Terrence McNally has won 4 tony’s and an emmy for his writing. and his 4 tonys were all in the 90s meaning he recieved 20 percent of all of the writing recognition given by the tonys that entire decade.
@Anonymous Richard Axel! Guaranteed to be the most epic class day speech ever.
@puzzling i am always surprised about how entitled everyone gets when they start announcing class day candidates. everyone on this list is incredibly accomplished…some more than others, to be sure, but that is a pretty incredible list. you have a noble prize winner, american politicians who have been incredibly important, the fucking PRESIDENT of a country. even some of the lesser known names are pretty impressive…people like suarez have been in the business far longer than all of you have even been alive. and the backlash against ben jealous last year? what WAS that?
who do you people think that you are?
@2O13 why are you surprised? this is columbia; entitlement is as common as skinny jeans, overpriced food, and ironic glasses.
@Beel Sookeh.
@CC '11 NO MORE POLITICIANS please
@Why This list is awful. We deserve far better.
And its kind of ridiculous how they think that Hollywood actresses are valid class day speakers.
@... every year, the list gets worse. can’t we get warren buffett or someone?
@Anonymous Buffett only went to the business school.
@hmmm Some good choices and some bad ones. For good or for worse, by the way, I’ll bet that Julia Stiles will be chosen one of these years… She just keeps appearing on these lists from year to year, and has progressively increased her profile in alumni circles.
@Anonymous Ray Suarez! Newshour with Jim Lehrer for life, bitches.
@das racialist While I’m sure many Columbia students would be delighted with Palin, the rules strictly require the speaker to be a CC or at least CU affiliate. They also have to finance their own trip…Palin doesn’t even like to finance her own wardrobe.
@Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the Ethiopian PM.
@Anonymous all suck
@Anna Paquin... …so she can bring her hot hubby with her and we’ll have something to look at while she’s talking.
@Princeton BRO oh shit that chick is taken? im about to google her husband but i feel gay doing so
whats his name.. is he even fucking russian
@Confederate Lover She married Bill! Suck on that Eric fans.
@Alum “Ric Burns, your and Eric Foner’s favorite PBS documentary producer, his niece Lily graduated a few years ago.”
More importantly, so did he. He was CC ’78, and he got an M.A. a few years later.
@no! Please don’t pick Senator Gregg! I saw him speak recently, and he hinted that we should invade Iran and North Korea!
@Aperture Science “Famous” speakers can be shallow and boring.
My inner tech geek wants to see Julius.
Pres. Ilves is a kind of eccentric dude. He tried to make a core-like xomponentpart of the national educational curriculum. Bwog, CCT did a cover story on him a few years ago: http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/mar_apr08/cover.php
@Dartmouth BRO SNOOKI FOR COLUMBIA CLASS SPEAKER!!!!!!!
disclosures: dartmouth bruh’s got dibs on the situation instead.
@Troll Police are you the new Harmony Hunter? If so, can you stop? There are no lulz to be had here
@Honestly... Honestly, I liked Harmony Hunter a whole lot better than this guy. At least he was occasionally funny. This guy is just sad.
@alum Julia Stiles!! That’s the only name most students would recognize. I really wanted Kenneth Cole my year. I prefer a famous celebrity over a renowned person.
@c'09 dismal!
@Anonymous The president of Estonia graduated from CC?
@Alum Yep. He was CC ’76.
@i want stephen t. colbert.
@So we're Finally giving up on Obama?
@GS' 11 Terrence McNally makes me wish I was in CC, not GS.
@Ugh these people are lame. Aren’t Columbia students important enough to have someone decent speak? Why hasn’t anyone inivted Sarah Palin yet?
@Anonymous Ric Burns is Lily’s uncle. Her father is KEN Burns. While Ric got a producer credit on The Civil War, Ken is the real filmmaker. Also the link shoots you to the wrong bio.
@Anish Fixed and fixed! Sorry about that.
@compadre ric burns is also an incredible filmmaker. have you SEEN the new york series for pbs? what’s the last thing ken did, national parks? that sucked.
@Wrong... Burns’ last work is Baseball: The 10th Inning, and the first part was light night. The second part is tonight on PBS.
The whole series is fantastic.
@Anonymous that new york documentary was enjoyable, but repetitive at times. And that last episode was basically an adaptation of Robert Caro. (The WTC episode is really a postscript.)
@SEAS '11 I’m guessing this is for CC class day. I hope seas doesn’t get an ultra lame guy like last year.
@Anish You’re right–we’ll clarify that. Thanks!
@Dartmouth BRO it would be HOT to see anna paquin eat out li lu with Julius Genachowski pouring the hot water.
@Anonymous soooooooookie!!!!
@sookie gets on my nerves
@'14 LI LU LI LU LI LU
@... dallas multipass.
@Anonymous LAME
@Anonymous meh.