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This year's New York University (NYU) graduates are in for a wild treat: superstar artist Taylor Swift will speak at their commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium on May 18.
The 11-time Grammy award winning singer and songwriter—who will also be receiving a Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, from the school—will address the graduating class during the "traditional morning ceremony" at 11am at the stadium.
That night, the university will also hold a "doubleheader" event honoring the classes of 2020 and 2021. The two sections were not able to have an in-person commencement ceremony because of COVID-19—hence the post-graduation celebrations.
Disability rights activist Judith Heumann, the author of the 2020 book Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, will deliver a speech during the night ceremony.
"I cannot overstate how thrilled I am to be coming together in person with graduates, parents, faculty, and honorees for NYU’s commencement. Since 2019, we have been deprived of Commencement’s festive, communal joy, and its absence has been keenly felt," said NYU President Andrew Hamilton in an official statement. "Few groups of graduates are more deserving of a celebration than these classes: their pursuit of their studies disrupted, isolated by a daunting pandemic, these classes—2022, 2021, and 2020—have distinguished themselves with their grit, grace, and forbearance. We reconvene at Yankee Stadium with a renewed sense of appreciation for the act of celebrating together in person, a recognition of our graduates’ enormous achievements, and a respect for their character and perseverance."
This isn't NYU's first foray into all things Swift: during the spring 2022 semester, the school actually offered students a course about the artist at its Clive Davis Institute. Rolling Stone journalist and NYU alumna Brittany Spanos taught the class, which focused on Swift's "evolution as a musician, businesswoman, entrepreneur, country singer and pop sensation."
All of a sudden, commencement ceremonies sound so much less boring than we remember them being.
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