Commencement Speakers 2010: Barack Obama, Glenn Beck Hit Campuses

Commencement season is arriving, and that means all the top schools are engaging in bouts of competitive name dropping.

Commencement speakers tend to be a highly anticipated announcement among the nation's top schools, seeing who can secure the big brand names like "Clinton" or "Immelt." Speaker selection can often cause a bit of student unrest (see: Syracuse protests over this year's selection, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon), and, at times, nationwide controversy (see: protests at Notre Dame over President Barack Obama's speech last year).

More and more, commencement addresses are less about the graduating class and more an exercise in public relations: the schools that secure the biggest names gain significant publicity, and the famous personalities they host get a prominent stage to bolster their image.

In acknowledgment of the growing vanity of these speeches, we at The Cram have reviewed dozens of commencement speaker selections across the nation and chosen the best, the "big score," the most controversial, the least surprising, the most intriguing and the student favorite from the many politicians, federal administrators, business leaders and journalists that populate the majority of the list.

The 'Big Score': Tiny Beloit College gets a big name when David Axelrod speaks to graduates on May 9. The senior presidential adviser will visit the campus of about 1,300 students, where his son was once a student. Axelrod spoke at DePaul University's commencement in 2009, where he told graduates they should "chase [their] passions with abandon." The Wisconsin school has a public commencement ceremony, so crowds can be expected to see the political strategist speak.

The Most Controversial: Few 2010 commencement speaker selections have generated as much controversy as an invitation to Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase chief, from Syracuse University. Shortly after the university announced Dimon had accepted its invitation, students began to protest, including holding a rally and starting a petition. Protest organizers told the Daily Orange, the Syracuse student paper, the choice of Dimon serves to "validate the anti-environmental and anti-humanitarian interests of JPMorgan Chase." Still, the university chancellor has defended the choice, and Dimon even told reporters he has no qualms about the speech or the protests.

The 'No Surprise' Selection: Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, the conservative evangelical Baptist school in Virginia, has landed a media superstar for their 2010 commencement, and it's not Chris Matthews. I'll give you one guess . . . you're right, it's Glenn Beck. Falwell said in a press release the university was "blessed" to have Beck, who he called "one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded." He added that Beck follows in the tradition of commencement speakers who have "a positive impact on society." (Also of note: Students at Liberty are also advocating for Sarah Palin as a potential future speaker via a Facebook group.)

The Student Favorite: As Smith College President Carol Christ began to introduce the announcement of the 2010 commencement speaker -- Stanford graduate . . . Rhodes scholar . . . political analyst . . . national television host -- students at the all-women school quickly erupted into louder cheers with every description, going wild when Rachel Maddow's name was finally announced. (View a video of the announcement and ensuing reaction.) This will be Maddow's first commencement address, joining her more seasoned MSNBC counterparts Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on the circuit.

The Most Intriguing: UCLA, which has had difficulty securing speakers in the last two years (Bill Clinton bailed in 2008, and alum James Franco bailed in 2009) made an intriguing choice in selecting alumnus Gustavo Arellano, the writer and columnist known for his syndicated "¡Ask a Mexican!" column, which he writes for the Orange County paper OC Weekly. Arellano's column answers two queries a week from readers on all things Mexican. From a recent column: "Why is it Americans think Mexicans are all short?" The L.A. Times called Arellano "a witty chronicler of Mexican American life" and called his selection as commencement speaker "unusual, but potentially . . . amusing." Here's betting Arellano will address the Arizona immigration controversy, making him a very apropos choice.

The President's Picks: Barack Obama will make three commencement speeches this year. The president traditionally speaks at one of the military academies (West Point this year), and Obama also chose Michigan and Hampton University as his two other invitations to accept. (One would speculate that the president has his choosing of invitations to pick from.) Last weekend at Michigan, Obama took on growing anti-government rhetoric in his address, telling graduates what "troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad" and concluding that "what we should be asking is not whether we need 'big government' or a 'small government,' but how we can create a smarter and better government." The president's two other speeches are on May 9 (at Hampton, the historically black college) and May 22 (West Point).

The Best: Harvard's selection of former Supreme Court Justice David Souter as the 2010 speaker stands above the rest of the pack. Souter, a Harvard alumnus, is known for avoiding public speeches and keeping a low profile, so that gives his Harvard address added importance. The Harvard Crimson reported one law professor as saying he felt Souter's reflections "will prove enlightening at a time of national soul-searching and peril." Souter's speech is likely to generate a fair number of headlines, given his relatively quiet nature. And if Harvard seniors think that Souter isn't enough, they have Christiane Amanpour's reflections to look forward to as well -- Amanpour, the former CNN journalist who's taking the helm at ABC's "This Week," is the featured Class Day speaker at Harvard.

As commencement season gets under way, watch for these schools and these speakers in the headlines, as many may seize the opportunity to promote their message. Here's hoping at least a few have some thoughtful advice for the seniors they are supposed to address.