After four or more years of hard work, convocation marks a joyous occasion for seniors to put aside their differences, come together as one, and jointly celebrate an important milestone of their lives. I can think of few worse choices to symbolize this unity than Nancy Pelosi.

I suppose I have an obligation to wait until the speech before rendering judgment, but I cannot help but be pessimistic, especially with a speaker who will cause so much damage and breed feelings of ill well long before she even steps on the stage.

The issue extends well beyond Pelosi’s political affiliation. Her Democratic predecessor, Dick Gephardt, was not nearly as polarizing as she is. Other Democrats, such as Sen. Jim Webb or Vice-President Joe Biden, often disagree with conservatives but still command some level of respect from them. Even Hillary Clinton looks good to her hardcore haters in comparison to Pelosi.

Basically, Nancy Pelosi generates the same feelings on the right that Ann Coulter does on the left. While neither would be a good pick, at least Ann Coulter went to Cornell.

It is not just conservatives either. Pelosi also has many detractors who are independents and even blue dog Democrats. One blue dog, Rep. Parker Griffith, said as recently as August 2009 that he does not want Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House: “I would not vote for her [again]. Someone that divisive and that polarizing cannot bring us together.”

Well that sounds likes a great choice to bring this senior class together.

If Heather Levy ’10, head of the 2010 Convocation Committee, and Chris Basil ’10, another committee member, cited the desire to bring in a prominent, well-known speaker, I would have to concede they accomplished their goal. But those two have to be delusional if they truly believe, as the Sun article stated, that Pelosi is a speaker who represents and appeals to the diversity of the student body.

Now, I do not have enough information to make a solid judgment on the unsubstantiated assertion in the Sun article that the committee was “composed of diverse members of the senior class.” Nonetheless, if no one on the committee could point out to Levy or Basil the potential pitfalls of their claim regarding Pelosi’s diverse appeal, I cannot help but hold a certain degree of skepticism about how diverse the committee actually was.

And the problem extends well beyond this year. Matthew Nagowski ’05 of MetaEzra put together a list of recent convocation speakers in 2009; on it you will find a long history of politically active liberals: Danny Glover (2002), James Carville (2003), Bill Clinton (2004), Wesley Clark (2005), and David Plouffe (2009). Obviously, a few of these in isolation would make a good pick, but put together they represent an undeniable, monotonous trend.

This trend becomes even narrower when we look outside the realm of politics. Cornell has seven different colleges and its famous motto, “any person…any study”. No one would ever know that looking at this list, though, and the additions of Martin Luther King III (2006), Soledad O’Brien (2007) and Maya Angelou (2008) do little to change that.

While we at least got a very important speaker, you will not be able to book someone like Nancy Pelosi every year. If the list of serious contenders for convocation speakers each year has also been this narrow-minded, it certainly would explain why some classes ended up with a lackluster politician instead of a famous person from an entirely different discipline.

When the convocation speaker is lackluster, everyone cares regardless of their political affiliation.

As for this year, it will not suffice to find a few token conservatives who do not care. Nor will it suffice to appease me. I may be a more prominent voice thanks to my column, but at the end of the day I am still one person, and many will still oppose the choice of Pelosi even if a few others and I were to back down.

I will certainly be one of the milder critics. CornellInsider.com (The Cornell Review’s blog) published a scathing satire of the original Sun article that same evening, and on CornellSun.com multiple commenters have stated that Cornell will not be getting a donation from them.

Furthermore, another argument, which has appeal across the political spectrum and independent of the political spectrum, notes that convocation is a special time of year for all students and their families as well. The choice of a speaker should reflect that, and Nancy Pelosi (or Ann Coulter) would not be an appropriate choice for the occasion, no matter how successful they may be.

Any choice will naturally appeal to some students more than others, but this choice should still respect the entire student body.

Mike Wacker, a senior in the College of Engineering, is a former Sun Assistant Web Editor. He may be reached at mwacker@cornellsun.com. Wack Attack appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.