2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Opinion
Better luck next year
It is no surprise that the Commencement Speaker Selection Committee has failed seniors yet another year at the university. I am sure Carl Bernstein is a very nice man and after reading about him, I saw that he has published a few books and helped expose the Watergate scandal. But he is nowhere near the quality of the commencement speakers that the university used to be able to get and that other universities continue to receive year after year. We had Bill Cosby in 1992, Hillary Clinton in 1996 and Sergey Brin in 2003.
Imagine the laughter that Cosby created throughout his speech or picture the inspirational speech Brin gave when he talked about going from a Maryland student to founding one of the largest corporations in the world. The one thing that these seniors might remember 30 or 40 years later is how great that speech was by their commencement speaker, but unfortunately I have a feeling the class of 2008 will not remember anything about Bernstein's speech.
The school's job should be to get a commencement speaker who is of high stature and who can give the students a memorable speech as they enter the real world. One graduation ceremony I will never forget is Princeton University's 2003 graduation. They had famed comedian Jerry Seinfeld as their commencement speaker. Seinfeld never went to Princeton, nor was he affiliated with the university in any way, but the Princeton Commencement Speaker Selection Committee knew how much the students would enjoy his speech. He spent the entire speech talking about the most random things like he does in his show, going from how great of a school Princeton is to how can we describe a cereal by giving it a name as big as "Life" and how pretty soon we are going to have a new cereal called "god." The senior class and the parents were laughing the entire time, and I can assure all of you that the senior class at Princeton of 2003 remembers that speech very well.
No one can dispute that Bernstein made a contribution to our society, but I have a feeling many students at this university do not even know who he is. However, this day is about the university senior class of 2008 and the question is, "Is this the person you want to send you off to the real world on your final day of college and who you will remember for the rest of your life?" I think not.
Kunal Mahajan
Senior
Finance
Opening bands deserved better coverage
In the May 5 edition of The Diamondback, the cover featured the story "Worth the dollar bills." I eagerly read the article, having attended Art Attack and been very impressed by some of the bands, and I wanted to hear what The Diamondback had to say. I have to admit, I was most disappointed. Only one line in the article was dedicated to the first two bands, both of which were great. The members of The Spill Canvas are masters of their craft, and I was blown away by them at the concert. It seems sophomoric to only focus on the bands that had the most girls screaming in the crowd. It makes the reader wonder if Thomas Floyd was even present for the beginning of the concert, or if he was just filled in afterward by some of the "disinterested" crowd. A group like The Spill Canvas would have been excellent to focus on as an up and coming band that students at the show really enjoyed. I guess all that I could hope for next time would be less hype and more about what really matters - the music.
Shannon Thornton
Sophomore
Letters and sciences
Air Your Views
The Diamondback welcomes your comments. Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion@dbk.umd.edu. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and night-time phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words. Please limit guest columns to between 550 and 700 words.
Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.
Letters can also be submitted online here.
It is no surprise that the Commencement Speaker Selection Committee has failed seniors yet another year at the university. I am sure Carl Bernstein is a very nice man and after reading about him, I saw that he has published a few books and helped expose the Watergate scandal. But he is nowhere near the quality of the commencement speakers that the university used to be able to get and that other universities continue to receive year after year. We had Bill Cosby in 1992, Hillary Clinton in 1996 and Sergey Brin in 2003.
Imagine the laughter that Cosby created throughout his speech or picture the inspirational speech Brin gave when he talked about going from a Maryland student to founding one of the largest corporations in the world. The one thing that these seniors might remember 30 or 40 years later is how great that speech was by their commencement speaker, but unfortunately I have a feeling the class of 2008 will not remember anything about Bernstein's speech.
The school's job should be to get a commencement speaker who is of high stature and who can give the students a memorable speech as they enter the real world. One graduation ceremony I will never forget is Princeton University's 2003 graduation. They had famed comedian Jerry Seinfeld as their commencement speaker. Seinfeld never went to Princeton, nor was he affiliated with the university in any way, but the Princeton Commencement Speaker Selection Committee knew how much the students would enjoy his speech. He spent the entire speech talking about the most random things like he does in his show, going from how great of a school Princeton is to how can we describe a cereal by giving it a name as big as "Life" and how pretty soon we are going to have a new cereal called "god." The senior class and the parents were laughing the entire time, and I can assure all of you that the senior class at Princeton of 2003 remembers that speech very well.
No one can dispute that Bernstein made a contribution to our society, but I have a feeling many students at this university do not even know who he is. However, this day is about the university senior class of 2008 and the question is, "Is this the person you want to send you off to the real world on your final day of college and who you will remember for the rest of your life?" I think not.
Kunal Mahajan
Senior
Finance
Opening bands deserved better coverage
In the May 5 edition of The Diamondback, the cover featured the story "Worth the dollar bills." I eagerly read the article, having attended Art Attack and been very impressed by some of the bands, and I wanted to hear what The Diamondback had to say. I have to admit, I was most disappointed. Only one line in the article was dedicated to the first two bands, both of which were great. The members of The Spill Canvas are masters of their craft, and I was blown away by them at the concert. It seems sophomoric to only focus on the bands that had the most girls screaming in the crowd. It makes the reader wonder if Thomas Floyd was even present for the beginning of the concert, or if he was just filled in afterward by some of the "disinterested" crowd. A group like The Spill Canvas would have been excellent to focus on as an up and coming band that students at the show really enjoyed. I guess all that I could hope for next time would be less hype and more about what really matters - the music.
Shannon Thornton
Sophomore
Letters and sciences
Air Your Views
The Diamondback welcomes your comments. Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion@dbk.umd.edu. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and night-time phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words. Please limit guest columns to between 550 and 700 words.
Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.
Letters can also be submitted online here.
Submit a letter to the editor or post a comment below.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 17
dk
posted 5/07/08 @ 6:02 AM EST
Umm, Kunal, I think the fact that you seem to think that Carl Bernstein is neither relevant nor recognizable to your class says a heck of a lot more about your class than about Carl Bernstein. (Continued…)
M
posted 5/07/08 @ 6:16 AM EST
I think if you're from anywhere remotely near DC, or pay attention to history, or read, or have watched tv, or been born, you know who Carl Bernstein is. (Continued…)
Andrew
posted 5/07/08 @ 8:40 AM EST
you had to look up who Carl Bernstein was? Have you filled CORE yet?
CB
posted 5/07/08 @ 10:55 AM EST
It doesn't take a famous person to give an inspiring and appropriate commencement speech.
Brian
posted 5/07/08 @ 10:59 AM EST
Not that Carl Bernstein isn't a recognizable name, but for a roughly 30,000 student school in such a prominant area, I agree that UMD should have no problem getting A-list keynote speakers. (Continued…)
Grant Hamming
posted 5/07/08 @ 11:27 AM EST
To suggest that Carl Bernstein isn't a worthy commencement speaker for this university is laughable. It makes me sad to think that there are (apparently a large number of) people in my class who don't know who Bernstein is or the absolutely essential contribution he made to the recent history of our country. (Continued…)
Ricky Parker
posted 5/07/08 @ 2:24 PM EST
Just as a side note, you make mention of Sergei Brin as one of the better choices for commencement speaker. But when I graduated in 2003, I vaguely recall editorials, similar to this one, lamenting the choice of him as speaker. (Continued…)
Jon
posted 5/07/08 @ 2:51 PM EST
I'm a little embarrassed that Kunal has no clue who Bernstein is, however after I looked at a list of notable alumni that have attended or associated with this University, there are several that stick out above Bernstein. (Continued…)
STOP BITCHING KUNAL
posted 5/07/08 @ 4:22 PM EST
Kunal,
Instead of bitching why don't you do something about it. If it is so important to you why didn't you run for the position of senior commencement speaker chair? I'll tell you why. (Continued…)
S
posted 5/07/08 @ 5:57 PM EST
"I'm sure Carl Bernstein is a very nice man." Could you have been a little more condescending to a man who helped break one of the most significant news stories in history? It also makes me very, very sad that you had to look up his name. (Continued…)
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