Illini 411: Why did the U. of I. not have a Commencement speaker from 1976 to 1983?

1979 commencement at Assembly Hall (Image courtesy of U. of I. Archives)

A: By the mid-1970s, the class sizes at Illinois were enormous, and the campus-wide Commencement ceremonies, then held at the Assembly Hall, had grown uncomfortably long. In 1976, organizers decided to shorten the ceremony by cutting the Commencement speech. Although the university didn’t say so publicly, the decision was probably (definitely) influenced by people’s reaction to the 1975 speech by former provost Lyle Lanier, which the press described as “a litany of despair” about society’s problems. (Oof.) Anyhow, the Commencement speech returned in 1984, when retiring chancellor John Cribbet, JD ’47, was asked to address the crowd. His speech was so warmly received that the tradition was reinstated, and it’s remained an integral part of the event ever since.

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