commencement speeches

The Best Commencement Speeches of 2017

By Catherine Trautwein

Read President Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University

By Ryan Teague Beckwith

Jim Carrey Tells Graduates: Don't Play It Safe

By TIME Video

Let Motown Be Your Commencement Speaker

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
More in commencement speeches

This Is the Only Commencement Speech Anybody Needs to Hear Ever

There's been a lot of hoopla over commencement season this year. Protests have sent some would-be speakers packing in a huff. And, at the moment, many people (on the island of Manhattan anyway) are wondering...

By Matt Vella May 19, 2014

Grad Speaker Calls Out Students for Protest

William Bowen, a former Princeton University president, criticized Haverford College students who rallied against a former University of California, Berkeley chancellor as their speaker because of his management of a 2011 protest that led to police force

By Nolan Feeney May 18, 2014

Caving on Commencement Speakers Is Censorship, Not Scholarship

Christine Lagarde withdrew as Smith College's commencement speaker under student pressure, but a true “marketplace of ideas” must be open to hearing from people from different walks of life, professions, experiences and philosophical and political points of view.

By Greg Lukianoff May 14, 2014

The Best Advice for New Grads From People Who Will Never (Again) Be Invited to Speak at Your Graduation

If only these people had followed their own words of wisdom.

By Zac Bissonnette May 2, 2014
More from TIME
More From TIME