With the start of a new school year, the Class of 2025 is counting down to the day that they’ve worked towards for the last four years: Commencement. The dream of celebrating with peers and parents, diploma in hand, is what keeps many of us going during a particularly tough week studying on third floor Berry. Graduating from an institution like Dartmouth is an accomplishment on its own, but the cherry on top often comes in the form of a famed Commencement Day speaker crediting the senior class’s successes.
As of last fall, students have a greater say in who delivers the Commencement speech, according to College spokesperson Jana Barnello. In 2023, the College announced and implemented a nomination process for honorary degree recipients — and by extension, the Commencement speaker — starting with a suggestion form open to the Dartmouth community. This revamped nomination process, which was implemented shortly after President Sian Leah Beilock’s inauguration, remains in effect for the Class of 2025.
On Sept. 18, Beilock — in conjunction with Dartmouth Student Government and the Council on Class Officers — held a meeting in One Wheelock open to all members of the Class of 2025 to discuss honorary degree recipient nominations. Senior Class President Eunice Antwi ’25 described the meeting as an opportunity to get the senior class “brainstorming on what they want to see.”
Although the event was hosted during the first week of classes, around 50 members of the Class of 2025 attended the forum and proposed “a really diverse group” of nominees, according to Antwi.
Members of the Dartmouth community outside of the Class of 2025 also had an opportunity to contribute to the nomination process. Beilock invited all students to complete the form in a campus-wide email on Sept. 16.
According to Prescott Herzog ’25, the intern in the President’s Office, all suggestions are considered equally, regardless of class year or status as a student or faculty member.
“Anyone who fills out the form, student or faculty, [are able to nominate] — none of the [respondents’] names are attached,” Herzog said.
In a written statement to The Dartmouth, Beilock said community input played a part in the decision to invite Roger Federer to speak at the Class of 2024 Commencement ceremony. Tony Godsick ’93, Roger Federer’s longtime agent and business partner, whose daughter is a member of the Class of 2024, also factored into the process. Beilock said Federer was among students’ choices in previous years.
“Roger had been nominated … in several cycles in recent years,” Beilock wrote. “Among other names, it was clear that this is someone students would love to hear from.”
After the closure of the submission form on Sept. 30, the nomination process moves to the Council on Honorary Degrees and the Board of Trustees. According to Barnello, the council consists of six members, one faculty members from each of the three undergraduate divisions — Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences — and a representative from each of Dartmouth’s graduate institutions: the Thayer School of Engineering, the Geisel School of Medicine and the Tuck School of Business.
The council members are appointed by the Committee on Organization and Policy, which the senior class president advises, according to Barnello.
“It’s a multi-step process to get [to be the commencement speaker] and that’s what we were really emphasizing [to the student body]” Antwi said. She added, “[We want] people to pick [nominees] they really care about to receive honorary degrees.”
Beilock also wrote that the speaker should be representative of the graduating class, which factored into the College’s decision to select Federer last year.
“I really wanted [the Class of 2024] to have a Commencement speaker who could … tap into the resilience they showed during their time at Dartmouth,” she said.
Selecting the Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipients is a months-long process. After community suggestions are submitted, though, the nomination process becomes confidential, Barnello said.
According to Barnello, the Council on Honorary Degrees and the Board of Trustees generally look for a group of honorees that have made — or are expected to make — significant contributions to a field and serve as role models for the graduating class. The aim is also to include individuals from historically underrepresented groups that serve a wide range of interests and fields, she added.
These characteristics are used to narrow down the considerable list of community suggestions, notable alumni and otherwise nominated figures to a handful of contenders. According to Barnello, the College will extend honorands invitations in the winter before officially announcing the honorands alongside the Commencement speaker in the spring. Potential Commencement speakers are invited by the College in “cycles.”
“An invite is extended to the top choice, and then [to] subsequent nominees should that person not be able to speak,” she said.
For Antwi, the College’s willingness to involve students in the process is a welcome change from prior years.
“They’re really emphasizing the student perspective,” she said. “They’ve been communicative. As a representative, it’s a great honor to be involved in this process.”
