Following last year’s disaster in which the commencement committee appeared to pick random names out of the telephone book, we’re happy they reached out to students for names and were able to snag Darius Rucker and other bigwigs to appear at USC, such as Robert Gates, a former secretary of defense, and Philip Lader, a former U.S. ambassador, with whom we’re quite impressed.
But for a musician who’s talented across multiple genres, we couldn’t help but be surprised Rucker isn’t speaking to graduates from the obvious choices such as the School of Music — which will be giving him an honorary doctorate — or the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, from which he graduated the same year most of this class’s graduating students were born.
Due to scheduling conflicts, Rucker will instead speak to students graduating from the Honors College and College of Arts and Sciences. While some of us in the college are concerned he might not be able to provide a personal message that resonates with this particular audience of academics, Rucker clearly fills the want of much of the student body as a beloved celebrity.
And while we love “Cracked Rear View” as much as the next Gamecocks, we don’t only wanna be with Rucker. We’re excited for his commencement address, but almost 20 years have passed since Hootie’s heyday, and we’re worried Rucker may serve as a community go-to for too many events.
At the same time, USC graduates, consider this a call to action — someone out there become as famous and successful as Hootie & the Blowfish so we can tout other alumni achievements for a change. In the meantime, we’ll continue to embrace America’s greatest frat rock band and the spokesman of Burger King’s TenderCrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich.