COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS

For the past few years, the undergraduate addresses at Commencement have been rather futile. In the main, the harangues have been drab, the speakers practically unknown to their classmates, and the general tone that of a stilted secondary school valedictory address. The situation this year is peculiarly grim. The undergraduate chosen from the competition to deliver the annual address is unable to be at the exercises leaving the Commencement officials to search about for a budding Demosthenes.

Much of the failure of undergraduate participation in Commencement exercises is directly due to the inefficient technique of recruiting the speakers. The only notice given of the impending competition is an uninspiring card informing all and sundry that there is to be a trial for Commencement parts. Little or no attempt is made to stimulate the interest of Seniors in the competition. Worst of all the trials are held in the weeks immediately preceding the divisional examinations. As a result of this system, few men even enter the competition, and those that do rarely represent the leaders of the graduating group.

If undergraduate addresses are to be maintained as a part of the Sever program, it would seem logical that the method of competition be reformed. Some effort should be made by University Hall to elicit addresses by the leading members of the graduating class. And above all, the dates for the preliminary trials should be set, either early in March, or during the closing weeks of May after the divisional examinations are completed.