Cokie Roberts, a former ABC News political commentator who now works for National Public Radio, will be the speaker at Fairfield University’s 54th commencement on Sunday, May 23.
“Cokie Roberts is an especially good and appropriate commencement speaker,” said Frank Marx ’04. “She will be able to offer a unique and well-respected outlook of the state of our world today.”
Roberts covered congress, politics and public policy for ABC for 15 years. From 1996 to 2002, she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program “This Week.” She currently serves as senior news analyst for NPR.
“I am ecstatic to have Cokie Roberts coming here,” said Rev. Charles H. Allen, S.J., executive assistant to President Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. “We are living in troubled times right now, and to bring in a well-known and highly respected political commentator in and get their insight on the political scene is great.”
Kelley and the board of trustees are usually in charge of the process of choosing a commencement speaker, according to Allen.
“Speakers are usually chosen based on who is willing to come,” said Allen. “If someone here at the university knows someone who they think would be a good speaker, they will try to get them to come. It’s about having the connections because getting people is not easy.”
Kelley had the connection to Roberts and is the one who knows her best, Allen added.
So far students have mixed reactions to Roberts’ awaited arrival.
“I think that she is an interesting choice during such a controversial election year,” said Erin Maier ’04. “But I hope that her speech is more focused on insight to her life experiences than political commentary.”
“I’d rather not have someone political as a speaker,” said Kristen Keleher ’04. “I feel I am going to drift away off into space during her speech.”
Allen agreed that students may not be interested in a news personality, and rather have a speaker who is in the entertainment business.
“I know the students would love to have someone like Tom Cruise,” said Allen. “I respect him as an actor, but I don’t think he would have much to say to us, like others do.”
In more than 30 years of broadcasting, Cokie Roberts has won countless awards, including two Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.
“I think people would give a better reaction to a comedic speaker, rather than a serious one,” said Marissa Lanteri ’04. “They would keep our attention better and make commencement more interesting.”
“I never really heard of Cokie Roberts before,” said Joe Fomenko ’04. “I just hope she gives a speech that motivates all the graduates, and hopefully everyone can take something positive she says and use it in the future.”
Fairfield will also be giving out honorary degrees to: Reverend Mother Dolores Hart, Prioress, O.S.B., at Pax Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn.; United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit Guido Calabresi of Woodbridge, Conn.; and James F. Hanrahan, founder, chancellor and headmaster emeritus of Saint Thomas More School, of Oakdale, Conn.
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