Class Day

Class Day is like graduation, but not really (University Commencement, at which students are formally conferred their degrees, is held on a separate day). These celebrations, held for each of Columbia's undergraduate schools, feature student (usually valedictorians or salutatorians, depending on the school) and keynote speakers (usually alumni), and an occasion for students to have their names called out, walk across the stage, and shake hands with the Dean. Their existence forces students' parents to spend an extra day or two dealing with their children's commencement. The upshot is that the ceremonies are more intimate and personal. Columbia College's ceremony includes a Parade of Classes.

Instead getting a diploma, undergraduate students receive a Class Pin from members of the 50th reunion class of that year.

Speaker Complaints

Speakers at recent Columbia College class days have stirred howls of complaint. In 2006, Senator John McCain (whose daughter is CC '07) spoke, and some students expressed disapproval arguing that he did not represent the political beliefs of most CC students. Matthew Fox, a star of TV's Lost, was the speaker for 2007, and was seen as an underwhelming or inappropriate choice for such a serious occasion, although his speech turned out well-received. These controversies generally involve petulant members of the senior class, who desire a meaningful close to their four year stint at the university, i.e. a charismatic intellectual celebrity.

Class Day speakers

Undergraduate School Speakers

Year	Columbia College	SEAS	General Studies	Barnard College
2011	Alexandra Wallace Creed C '88	TBA	TBA	TBA
2010	Benjamin Jealous C'94	Paul Brandt-Rauf SEAS, MS (SEAS), EngScD, MD, MPH, DrPH	Jacques Pepin GS'70	Meryl Streep
2009	Eric Holder C '73	James Albaugh MS (SEAS) '??	Philippe Reines GS '00	Hillary Clinton
2008	Joel Klein C '67	Armen A. Avanessians SEAS '83	Alicia Graf GS'03	Michael Bloomberg
2007	Matthew C. Fox C '89	Santiago Calatrava Parent '06, '07	Deborah Marshall, GS '79	Anna Deavere Smith
2006	John McCain Parent '07	Raymond P. Daddazio E '75, '76, '82	Antonio Luis Freitas GS '97	Francine du Plessix Gray BC '52
2005	Robert Kraft C '63	Mynoon Doro E '73	Michael Margitich, GS '99
2004	Tony Kushner C '78 [1]	Savio Tung E '73
2003	George Stephanopoulos C '82 [2]	Michael Massimino E '84 [3]
2002	David J. Stern L '66 [4]	Jeffrey Bleustein [5]
2001	David Boies		R. W. Apple, Jr GS '61
2000	Brian Dennehy C '60
1999	Claire Shipman C '86	David E. Shaw
1998	Judge Joseph A. Greenaway C '78	Norman R. Augustine		Joyce Purnick BC '67
1997	Jonathan Kozol	David Marks		Anna Quindlen BC '74
1996	Robert Rubin	Y.D. Kim	Joseph Califano
1995	Tom Brokaw	Samuel L. Higginbottom C '43, E '43		Madeleine Albright GSAS '68, SIPA '76
1994	Fritz Stern C '46	Eleanor Baum		Sheila E. Widnall
1987				Charles S. Robb

Trivia

• In 1961, when Harvard switched its diplomas from Latin to English, the valedictorian, a Classics major, delivered his address in Latin. He began "O miseros Harvardianos..."
• Part of James Russell's valedictory speech was delivered in ancient Armenian
• In 2010, the General Studies valedictorian, Brian Corman, plagiarized part of his speech from comedian Patton Oswalt