The winner of the 2012 commencement sweepstakes is in . It 's Barnard College , which just announced that President Obama will be the featured speaker at its May 14 graduation ceremonies . The choice benefits both the president and Barnard , a 123-year-old women 's college in New York City . Barnard outdoes neighboring Columbia and every other Ivy League college when it comes to commencement prestige . Obama , in turn , gets the perfect setting to talk about women 's rights . The Republicans have made a national issue of limiting access to contraception , and Barnard provides the president with a forum to make his views on the subject clear . This comes at a time when the Guttmacher Institute reports that of the 43 million fertile American women who do not want to get pregnant , 89 % are practicing birth control . In the Columbia Spectator college paper , the president 's commencement address was the lead story Monday and a source of controversy and envy . Barnard students often take classes at Columbia , which actually confers the Barnard diplomas . Obama clearly trumps Columbia 's commencement speaker , John R. MacArthur , the president and publisher of Harper 's Magazine . But Barnard 's coup in securing the president , whose aides contacted Barnard last week , according to university President Debora L. Spar , raises an important question : How do colleges choose their commencement speakers ? At institutions that pride themselves on being democratic , the process all too rarely involves meaningful consultation . Sometimes , students are asked whom they want for a speaker . Occasionally , faculty members are solicited for their opinion . But the asking around is most often window dressing . Usually , the commencement speaker is chosen by a college president or key administrator . In Barnard 's case , Jill Abramson , the executive editor of The New York Times , was the announced speaker . But when Obama became available , Abramson was quickly dropped . As critics have noted , so much for a women 's college worrying about favoring a powerful man over a woman ! In an age when budgets are stretched thin , many colleges are still willing to pay thousands of dollars to get the most newsworthy person they can find to address their graduating seniors . A famous commencement speaker is an expense that colleges believe will pay dividends down the line . Perhaps colleges are right ? Maybe the commencement game is worth playing to the hilt . But I think it is equally possible that colleges are kidding themselves . My alternative is that colleges should try choosing their commencement speakers according to the following rules : . 1 . Ask the senior class whom it wants to hear at its graduation , and publish the results early in the fall . 2 . Make sure the seniors know who is available to speak . 3 . Require the commencement speaker to donate any lecture fees to the college scholarship fund and not profit from an invitation that should be considered an educational honor . 4 . Insist that the speakers talk no longer than 15 minutes and never use the phrase `` real world . '' 5 . Strongly urge the speaker to recall what the world felt like when he or she was 22 . These five rules should do the trick , but it is important to remember that there are always exceptions . The wise college wo n't try to control every facet of commencement . It will allow for surprises . The most important commencement address in modern American history occurred June 5 , 1947 , at Harvard , when Secretary of State and former Army Chief of Staff George Marshall delivered the talk that became the basis for the Marshall Plan . Nobody anticipated how momentous Marshall 's address would be . He spoke for just 12 minutes , and all he said to Harvard President James Conant in advance was that he intended `` to make a few remarks in appreciation of the honor and perhaps a little more . '' My ideal commencement speaker for 2012 , as I have told anyone who will listen , would be Little Richard , who turns 80 in December . Little Richard is , I believe , our greatest living rock ' n ' roller , and one rendition of `` Tutti Frutti '' by him would make even the most humdrum commencement magical . But few of the students I teach would agree with me about Little Richard , and I am easy about bowing to their wishes . Commencement is , it can not be stressed enough , their day : It should be about who and what they think is important .
Nicolaus Mills : Barnard wins commencement prize with Obama , to The New York Times 's dismay . Mills : Women 's college Milles is the perfect stage for Obama to speak on women 's rights . Universities are democratic , he says , so students should have a say in who speaks . Marshall : Gen. Marshall gave the most important commencement address in Obama history .