<p>I'm trying to make a choice between harvard econ and Wharton. So far, I think Wharton's winning, but they're giving me less financial aid than Harvard (family would have to pay $15k vs full ride at Harvard). So, to try to make my choice, I'm wondering what type of speakers Harvard has recently brought in...</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Hey janas.joker,</p>
<p>For starters, Yo-Yo Ma spoke and performed last night in Radcliffe Yard. And tomorrow, Karl Rove is speaking at Winthrop.</p>
<p>A few others off the top of my head, most brought in by clubs (though open to everyone):</p>
<p>-Steven Colbert, December 2006
-Alec Baldwin, December 2007
-Rick Santorum, November 2007
-Jet Li, January 2008</p>
<p>Most extraordinary of all has usually been the commencement speakers. Each year there's a Class Day speaker chosen by the students, and a commencement speaker chosen by the administration. Last year's Class Day speaker was Bill Clinton and commencement speaker was Bill Gates. This year, J.K. Rowling will be the commencement speaker (they haven't decided on a Class Day speaker for this year yet). A few notable past commencement speakers have included:</p>
<p>2006 Jim Lehrer
2005 John Lithgow
2004 Kofi Annan
1999 Alan Greenspan
1997 Madeleine Albright
1994 Al Gore
1993 Colin Powell</p>
<p>A few notable Class Day speakers have included:</p>
<p>2006 Seth MacFarlane (created "Family Guy")
2004 Ali G (Sacha Baron Cohen)
2003 Will Ferrell
2002 Al Franken
2001 Bono
2000 Conan O'Brien
1997 Quincy Jones
1996 Tom Brokaw
1995 Hank Aaron </p>
<p>Will Farrell and Conan O'Brien in particular gave very funny speeches. Ali G's speech was quite ridiculous. (I recommend you find it on youtube).</p>
<p>Good luck at whatever school you decide on!</p>
<p>Paris Hilton recently made a speech at Harvard.</p>
<p>Today's Crimson also covers Bill Richardson's talk and Elizabeth Edwards' stint as a Visiting Fellow next week. Other Visiting Fellows next week will include the first woman president of Latvia and the vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq. This is all in just one issue of the Crimson.</p>
<p>The amazing part is that because there are so many events like this, the crowd at any one event may be very small. I went to meet Robert Reich, who had just left Washington after four years as Clinton's Secretary of Labor. 17 kids showed up. So we all sat on the carpet and ordered pizza and just talked about what was going on in the Cabinet.</p>
<p>It was the same back in the day. :) My House had a Current Events table every Wednesday night, where we just brought our trays to the same table in the dining hall and talked politics. One day we got an email that we would have a guest that night: George Will. About 20 students came, so we pushed a couple of tables together and had dinner conversation with George Will. (He had a tray of dining-hall food like everyone else.)</p>
<p>Of course, sometimes you get to do much cooler things with the visitors than just listen to them speak. I and other members of several singing groups got to do a master class with Bobby McFerrin and then perform with him for an audience of 1200 later that night. He liked one group so much that he flew them to Germany that summer to sing in a choral festival with him.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kuumbasingers.org/media2.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.kuumbasingers.org/media2.html</a></p>
<p>Honest to God, if I didn't have that video, I wouldn't believe that the whole Bobby McFerrin thing really happened.</p>
<p>Here is the campus lecture and guest speaker schedule just for the first half of April. As you can see, there are a LOT of speakers and interesting topics:</p>