The Dean's List team created a unique top 10 list for the craziest commencement speakers of 2023! From climate justice activists to the founder of the 1619 Project, see who your university hosted on campus! 
 
-The Dean's List team 
 
Top 10 lists change every two weeks, so keep checking back!

The founder of the 1619 Project had this to say in <a href="https://atlantadailyworld.com/2023/05/22/spelman-commencement-nikole-hannah-jones-urges-graduates-to-control-your-own-excellence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her speech</a>, “Across the nation, we are seeing cruel attacks on other marginalized groups, particularly the trans community and particularly our trans sisters. As you prepare to take this next step in your lives, women across the nation have lost their constitutionally protected right to determine their own reproduction. Particularly devastating for Black women who for centuries have fought for our own bodily autonomy. These are perilous times, but if there’s one thing that Black women know how to do, it is to fight.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones

“You really do have to be <a href="https://news.fordham.edu/commencement/commencement-2023/stevie-wonder-performs-for-class-of-2023-challenges-grads-to-be-activists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">woke</a>. Now, maybe some people in this nation, some leaders, some governors don’t understand what being woke is. Let me tell you what it is. It’s being awake. Being awake. Being aware. So stand up and be counted as one against oppression, hatred, and let’s keep the truth alive.”

Stevie Wonder

Winfrey told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/oprah-winfrey-delivers-woke-commencement-address-supreme-court-corrupted-lgbtq-under-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">graduates</a>, “The Supreme Court is being corrupted. The debt ceiling is being held hostage. The climate is changing. The LGBTQ+ community is under attack. The Cold War is back.”

Oprah Winfrey

In her commencement <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/may-every-zionist-burn-in-the-hottest-pit-of-hell-meet-cuny-law-schools-antisemitic-graduation-speaker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a>, Fatima Mohammed lambasted everyone from Israelis to New York City police. She has a history of antisemitic and anti-America social media posts, including this post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “my mom would have a heart attack if she knew i pray upon the death of the USA on a public platform but yolo i guess.”

Fatima Mohammed

In his speech, Oswalt <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/31/commencement-speeches-graduation-2023-tom-hanks-oprah-winfrey#:~:text=Patton%20Oswalt%2C%20actor%20and%20comedian,trivia%20and%20silliness%20and%20fun." target="_blank" rel="noopener">refers</a> to “White Nationalists” and states, “To the graduating class of 2023, I say three words: you poor bastards.”

Patton Oswalt

Battle is a climate justice <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/essays-culture/colette-pichon-battle-taproot-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activist</a> who regularly promoted the Green New Deal. She often conflates climate change with race, progressivism, and equity. Sounds like a recipe for DISASTER (no pun intended).

Colette Pichon Battle

Hughey is the vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion at SiriusXM. She thankfully shares her she/her <a href="https://twitter.com/NicoleHugheyMBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pronouns</a> on her X, formerly known as Twitter, page and once had SiriusXM <a href="https://www.standforsonicdiversity.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donate</a> to Stand for Sonic Diversity, which strives to implement race quotas in entertainment.

Nicole Hughey

<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/900274938/caste-argues-its-most-violent-manifestation-is-in-treatment-of-black-americans#:~:text=Wilkerson%27s%20central%20thesis,law%20and%20order." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Isabel Wilkerson</a> is the author of the book, Caste, which proclaims that the caste system “achieves its most violent manifestation in the treatment of American Blacks, set at the lowest level in society through historical and contemporary oppression, marginalization and violence.”

Isabel Wilkerson

Bertozzi told School of Medicine <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/06/bertozzi-graduation-speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">graduates</a>, “Unlike many of your predecessors, you &#8211; for the first generation in some time &#8211; might find yourself literally blocked from delivering health care to some of your patients that need it most. Patients that need it desperately, for example women that need access to reproductive and abortion services… transgender youth who need access to health care.”

Carolyn Bertozzi

Dr. Johnson <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/2023/06/2023-middlebury-commencement-address-dr-ayana-elizabeth-johnson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> the “climate crisis” as “the all-encompassing challenge that will touch whatever life and work you will go on to.” She also told students: “Every job can be a climate job! No matter if you studied econ or were pre-med.”

TOP 10 LISTS

Top 10 Controversial Commencement Speakers of 2023

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