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Ohio State’s independent student voice since 1881 A LANTERN SPECIAL PROJECT
Behind the scenes of Chris Pan’s viral commencement speech
The nomination process, Ohio State’s speaker history and who really made the call By Emma Wozniak Editor-in-Chief This story has been shortened for this print edition. See the full version at thelantern.com/special-projects/
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s the class of 2024 sat in the ‘Shoe in May, there were dozens of commencement speakers they could have heard from, each one having been considered by the university’s Commencement Speaker Advisory Committee that year. 0LFKHOOH 2EDPD WKH WK ¿UVW ODG\ RI WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV DQG WKH ¿UVW %ODFN woman to serve in the role, was the FRPPLWWHH¶V ¿UVW FKRLFH Lizzo, formally known as Melissa 9LYLDQH -H̆HUVRQ DQG D VLQJHU VRQJwriter with almost 11 million monthly Spotify listeners, was the committee’s second preference. LeBron James, the NBA all-time leading scorer and an open advocate for higher education who is also an Ohio native, was ranked No. 3 by the committee. Instead, university President Ted Carter Jr. selected Chris Pan — the social entrepreneur who encouraged graduates to consider investing in Bit-
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During his May 5, 2024, address, commencement speaker Christopher Pan led the audience through songs, namely “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes and a rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.”
coin, performed two songs and a magic trick and openly admitted to writing drafts of his speech while high on the psychedelic drug ayahuasca. Pan did not appear at all on the committee’s list of recommended speakers for the 2023-24 year. A Lantern data analysis of Ohio State commencement speakers from
the past half-century reveals the average speaker is a white, male, non-Ohio State alum with a career in education. Pan, on the other hand, is a nonwhite, male alum with a career in entrepreneurship. Clearly, he breaks the mold in more ways than one. On that spring day, even before the commencement ceremony had come
to a close, online controversy sparked. Then-graduates and their families, members of the Ohio State community, journalists and others took to social media to express dissatisfaction — and for some, blatant criticism — toward Pan’s speech. “In hindsight, I probably would have gone with a more conventional approach,” Pan said. “But then again, if I would have done that, it probably would have been forgotten. So, that’s something that I guess is what it is. I’m VWLOO ¿JXULQJ LW RXW ,¶P VWLOO SURFHVVLQJ it myself.” Among these layers of frustration, one question seemed most prevalent: How was Pan chosen as the commencement speaker? According to records obtained from the university, Pan received one public nomination in 2016 via Ohio State’s online nomination portal. Separate records of the advisory committee’s recommendation lists show Pan was under committee consideration for the 2019 summer and autumn commencement ceremonies. The following year, Pan was considered a “brought forward” nominee — meaning he wasn’t on the original list
SPEAKER continues on Pages 2-3
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