Some students walked out on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s commencement speech at Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2024.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
The right commencement speaker can create a memorable experience, generate favorable media coverage for the school and inspire donors. So why do colleges miss the mark on this once-a-year decision?
A student is arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, conservative activists led a counterattack against campus antiwar and civil rights demonstrators by demanding action from college presidents, the courts and the police.
Claudine Gay will become Harvard’s second female president and first Black president in July 2023.
Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images