It’s graduation season, which means that parents across the nation are gearing up for graduation ceremonies. Of course, one of the traditions as old as graduation itself is the guest speaker who delivers a stirring and inspiring address to the graduates and their family and friends in attendance.
Every year, celebrities, politicians, and CEOs speak at college graduations. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that left-leaning speakers are prominent at college commencement ceremonies, but what’s astonishing is that, in 2022, only three of the top 100 colleges and universities are featuring conservative speakers.
Young America’s Foundation has kept tabs on the political leanings of commencement speakers for the past 30 years, and their findings have shown that “a disproportionate number of speakers at our nation’s top colleges and universities have been liberal ideologues, big donors to liberal causes, and members of the woke media.”
This year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will speak at Virginia Tech, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow will speak at the University of Florida, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will speak at Boston College. And that’s it for openly conservative speakers.
On the other side of the political aisle, attendees of commencement ceremonies at 53 colleges and universities will hear known liberals. Entertainment figures like Tyler Perry, Taylor Swift, Kal Penn, and Ken Jeong will grace the podium at graduations, as will athletes like Emmanuel Acho, Dwyane Wade, and Abby Wambach.
Even more thrilling are the left-wing politicians like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Samantha Power, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens who will serve as commencement speakers. Other liberal speakers include journalist Bob Woodward and documentarian Ken Burns.
YAF noted that “10 speakers had unclear ideological affiliations and 36 schools had various speakers, no primary speaker(s), a university administrator as speaker, or no speakers announced yet.”
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“Even as Americans are beginning to wake up and wholly reject the Left’s disastrous economic policies and culture wars, America’s universities are working overtime to rehab the Left’s failing image,” the report reads. “It’s truly sad that up until their very last day of school, students are being indoctrinated by speakers with a clear ideological agenda—people who have no intent on giving an actual inspiring, powerful sendoff to our future leaders.”
In recent years, speakers from both sides of the political aisle have faced protests and walkouts. In 2017 at Notre Dame and in 2019 at Taylor University, students walked out on a commencement speech by then-Vice President Mike Pence. Earlier this year, Vassar College students complained when the school chose Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to speak at graduation; Johnson later withdrew after the backlash. So it’s easy to see why some potential speakers might be skittish about being part of a commencement ceremony.
But in an era when the left dominates both academia and culture and politicizes everything, maybe it shouldn’t surprise us that the majority of graduation speakers are from that side of the aisle. Then again, if college administrators wouldn’t cave to the squeaky-wheel wokes, maybe we’d see more diversity among commencement speakers.
Who knows? Maybe a fearless approach is worth a try.
Check out the full list here:
YAF Graduation Speaker List by PJ Media on Scribd
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