She may be leaving her role as CBS Evening News anchor in June, but Katie Couric has reportedly said that she will first be headed to Boston University in May to speak at commencement.
News of Couric’s BU plans was first reported on April 20 by Tuft University’s student newspaper, The Tufts Daily, in an article about the school’s own process of selecting a commencement speaker.
“I believe you’re going to be across the river this May,” moderator Jonathan Tisch said to Couric at the Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism at Tufts on April 11.
“At BU, sorry! They asked, you didn’t!” Couric responded, according to The Tufts Daily.
Couric spokesman Matthew Hiltzik would neither confirm nor deny that Couric would be BU’s commencement speaker. However, he did say that Couric would be in Boston at the time of BU’s commencement, which is May 22.
Traditionally, the BU president reveals the choice of commencement speaker along with other honorees at the Senior Breakfast, which is being held this year on May 6. BU spokesman Colin Riley, citing this tradition, said he would not comment on who the commencement speaker will be until then.
“The senior class is all together for the first time since they were freshmen and the president feels that the seniors should hear it first,” Riley said.
At some universities, a high-profile speaker comes with a high price tag. Through private donations, University of Oklahoma paid Couric $110,000 to speak at their 2006 commencement, according to The Washington Post, which also noted that Couric donated that money to charity.
BU students need not worry about their school breaking the bank to attract a glitzy speaker, according to Riley.
“We have not and do not pay commencement speakers, they are invited guests of the university,” he said.
Couric announced on Tuesday that she would be stepping down from her role at CBS Evening News when her contract expires in June.
Taylor Giardina, a senior in the School of Education, said she was impressed by the selection of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last year, but seemed to be a bit underwhelmed by the possibility of Couric as speaker.
“A little more high-profile would be pretty cool,” she said. “It would be cool [if she spoke], but I probably would have hoped for somebody else.”
Nick Dunn, on the other hand, said that Couric would be “a good choice” as speaker.
“If she was to come, she’s an influential personal certainly and has, I guess, a good view of the world,” the College of Engineering senior said. “She’s seen the news, she knows what’s going on, so she might have something useful to say for all of us.”
Daily Free Press Staff Writer Gina Curreri contributed reporting to this article.
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Way to spoil the surprise, Tufts!
Class of 2009 had Mike Capuano (yeah, I bet you have to Google him to figure out who the heck he is). There should be no complaints about Katie Couric.
What is more “high-profile” than an internationally known, award-winning reporter who has anchored some of the top-rated morning as well as evening news programs? BU would be very luck to have her.
Exactly. $200,000 got my class a local Congressman who told us we would “toil in obscurity” for the rest of our lives. These kids are getting Katie F’ing Couric.