Steve Brauntuch: Celebration over ceremony with this Commencement

Winston Churchill, he's not. And that's okay.

The University's choice of Bono as the 2004 Commencement speaker is certainly unconventional. Following in the footsteps of a senator, a renowned journalist and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the U2 lead singer doesn't quite fit the mold. Sure, he's a prominent activist, but the Commencement ceremony is usually reserved for the wise words of collegiate scholars, not rock stars. It is a time of academic celebration, not a public relations event.

But the days of traditional Commencement ceremonies are over, and it's about time that Penn entered the market for a big name speaker. And that's exactly why Bono is a fantastic choice for Commencement this May.

Right around the time Bill Cosby made his 10th consecutive Commencement speech at a different college, the idea behind the graduation ceremony changed forever. Gone were the days of George Marshall announcing policy during an address to an outgoing senior class. In their place? A new era where the popularity of the speaker often means more than his or her qualifications.

Commencement has become more of a celebration than a ritualistic ceremony. When people like Billy Joel and Jon Bon Jovi, neither of whom actually went to college, are giving Commencement addresses, you know that academic stature just isn't cutting it anymore.

Think of Commencement speakers as a free agent pool into which every college across the country can dip. This year, the prize free agent went to Cornell, a school seeking to place itself firmly in the national headlines come May. For what was undoubtedly a healthy sum, they got Bill Clinton, a man with tremendous appeal and a very strong academic background to boot.

After Clinton signed with Cornell, there were many top-tier free agents still available. Penn had previously signed some of the most popular ones, like former President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Those names would draw minor attention, but after spending several years in the shadows, Penn administrators wanted to remind the other Ivies that we, too, could play Commencement hardball.

They have done just that in selecting a smart, experienced, eloquent man known around the world for his strong beliefs and stronger actions. Try as you might to pigeonhole him as just a musician, Bono is much more than that.

He's one of the world's most prominent political activists, taking his message about the AIDS epidemic in Africa all the way to the United Nations. Last fall in South Africa, he helped Nelson Mandela organize one of the largest concerts in world history to benefit Mandela's global AIDS awareness campaign. And he's not so bad at his day job, either -- Bono is one of the definitive musicians of his era, which has spanned more than two decades, and his band is going into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year in its first year of eligibility.

People complain about Bono's lack of academic experience, but it probably wasn't their contributions to academia that made it acceptable to invite Tom Brokaw and Jim Lehrer to speak at Commencement. People complain about his "left-wing" politics, but it's hard to make the case that allocating more money for AIDS research and treatment is a liberal or conservative stance. And people complain that he won't have anything of value to say to a group of college graduates, but if you're going to invite a creative genius to Commencement, you might as well invite one who is closer to the age group of the graduating class.

All of these people who have complained about Bono for any number of reasons are missing the point. If you're looking for a stiff, formal Commencement ceremony in the grand tradition of academia, you should have been born 40 years earlier.

But since it's 2004, you should be aware that Commencement 2.0 is more of a celebration than a ceremony. It takes one look at the screen with scrolling personal messages to realize that Commencement has become just as much show as substance. Commencement is a going-away gift for the graduating class, and this year's gift is a speaker that students are certain to remember long after they enter the professional world. Most other schools have no problem with that, and thankfully, this one doesn't either.

When my mom graduated from Penn, her speaker was former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, now best known for having a dome named after him in Minnesota. When she told my brother that Humphrey spoke at her Commencement ceremony, he said, "Who?" I know that when I tell my kids who spoke at my college graduation, they'll know exactly who Bono is. That's an awfully nice going-away present from this University, and I'm glad they had the courage to break the Commencement speaker mold. We'll all reap the benefits of this decision come May.

Steve Brauntuch is a senior communications major from Tenafly, N.J., and former editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Statler and Waldorf appears on Wednesdays..

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