For the “Everything in America Today is Entertainment” file: Harvard University has announced that its commencement speaker this year will be entrepreneur and talk show host Oprah Winfrey. This is a new thing for Harvard, which sadly ignored Merv Griffin all those years. According to Harvard’s President Drew Faust, “Oprah’s journey from her grandmother’s Mississippi farm to becoming one of the world’s most admired women is one of the great American success stories. She has used her extraordinary influence and reach as a force for good in the world, with a constant focus on the importance of educational opportunity and the virtues of serving others.” She is also a religious leader, as Mark Oppenheimer wrote a couple of years ago, the founder of the Church of Oprah, “at once Christian and pantheistic, African-American in origin but global in reach.” Well, she’ll undoubtedly be more interesting than the speaker my year–Paul Volcker.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 11:35 AM
March 20th, 2013 | 11:58 am
Oprah Winfrey received an honorary doctorate from Princeton the same year that my husband got his MA. Cal Ripken, Jr. was another honoree, and much was made of the 2,000-plus games he’d played consecutively. The student behind me remarked, “Great…he gets a doctorate for showing up for work”.
Katie Couric was last year’s commencement speaker at my alma mater, the University of Virginia. In fact, I graduated the same year as Katie Couric. Our commencement speaker was Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.
March 20th, 2013 | 12:03 pm
No comment on the fact that Harvard’s president is named Faust.
March 20th, 2013 | 2:06 pm
A Faustian bargain no doubt.
March 20th, 2013 | 3:03 pm
Next year’s speaker is going to be either Nicki Minaj or Justin Bieber…
March 20th, 2013 | 3:25 pm
Peg: Katie Couric’s ugly harassment of Ave Maria University and the little township they planned to build (not sure if it ever got built) revolted me. I remember her nasty remark to whoever was on her show (Tom Monaghan perhaps) with a veiled threat about how they’d be “watching” to see if he dared limit anyone’s “constitutional rights” (meaning no limiting of abortion or contraception within town limits – and remember, this would be a 100% “company town,” not the takeover of an already existing town. Heaven forbid that people should be given the choice to live in one development in the whole U.S. that reflected their beliefs, and was VOLUNTARY to live in.
I don’t see her knocking herself out to “watch” Obama and Pelosi and their endless attempts to deny people their rights of conscience….
This country certainly reveals itself in its choice of commencement speakers.
March 20th, 2013 | 4:24 pm
Didn’t Conan O’Brien do this back in 2000 or some such? I know he’s a Harvard grad and the speech was hilarious and insightful.
March 20th, 2013 | 9:46 pm
Too bad for all those who paid the full freight for a Harvard sheepskin; Harvard does not know that Oprah jumped the shark a few years ago and her empire has been in decline ever since she endorsed Obama.
March 21st, 2013 | 1:13 am
Do I detect more than a hint of sexism here? If a man had built a media empire equivalent to what Oprah has done, I don’t think anyone would think it odd for him to be a commencement speaker at Harvard.
March 21st, 2013 | 9:37 am
David raises a testable proposition. Merv Griffin has been mentioned. Does anyone know if Johnny Carson, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Regis Philbin, or some other entertainer along the lines of Oprah has been invited to speak at a Harvard graduation?
March 21st, 2013 | 11:33 am
Mike Melendez,
A few past commencement speakers:
2008 J.K. Rowling
Author, Harry Potter series
2006 Jim Lehrer
Author and journalist, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
2005 John Lithgow 1967
Actor and author
Oprah isn’t merely an “entertainer.” She is an entrepreneur who built a media empire which has made her the only African American billionaire in the United States. Money isn’t everything, but it can certainly give an indication of how successful a person is as an entrepreneur. Johnny Carson’s net worth when he died was $300 million. David Letterman’s is $400 million. Conan O’Brien’s is $75 million. Regis Philbin’s is $90 million. Oprah’s is $2.7 billion.
March 21st, 2013 | 1:33 pm
I’m not sure I’d compare Oprah to anyone who has written a non-ghostwritten book. Though she may be superior in her own field, she’s not really head-to-head comparable to any real author.
Sexism? That’s a reach. I’d say it’s distaste for the kind of schlock on which Oprah has built her empire.
March 21st, 2013 | 6:24 pm
Founder of a church that is both Christian and pantheistic????? And she stands alone and with others??
Just another indication that Harvard has jumped the shark.
March 22nd, 2013 | 8:18 am
What’s not to admire and honor in a person (man or woman) like Oprah Winfrey? One does not have to have attended a big name university to be intelligent, caring, spiritual and successful in a worldly sense as well. That Oprah has shared her wealth while managing it is behavior we could emulate.
March 22nd, 2013 | 2:43 pm
She is as admirable as any other successful entrepreneur, except she isn’t reviled like the others simply because of her politics.
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