Committee Considers Class Day Speakers

The 1979 Class Committee is considering inviting Garry Trudeau, author of the comic strip "Doonesbury," as speaker on Class Day, Aaron J. Alter '79, class marshall, said Thursday.

Trudeau, who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, said Thursday he would be "happy to consider the invitation" when he receives it, but declined to comment further.

Lily Tomlin and Katharine Hepburn were among the 19 candidates the committee favored, Alter said. He added that if Trudeau is unable to come, the committee will then invite someone else.

Past Rejections

Peter McLoughlin '79, co-chairman of the selection committee, said yesterday that Trudeau has been among the celebrities to turn down the offer in past years. "There's no money offered for the job, and sometimes it just comes down to being able to get a speaker because someone at Harvard knows them," he said.

Other choices the group considered were Isaac Asimov, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Bradley, George Carlin, Chevy Chase, Walter Cronkite, John Finley '25, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) '54, Steve Martin, Gilda Radner, Bonnie Raitt, Christopher Reeve and John Updike, McLoughlin said.

Selection

A sub-committee polled seniors in the Houses for suggestions on speakers, then narrowed the field of about 30 candidates to 19. McLoughlin said the group discussed the relevance of each celebrity to the Class Day exercises.

"It's about a two-week process to invite a speaker and get a response," Alter said Thursday. "We could get to the bottom of the list before we get a yes."

McLoughlin said the committee may have to settle for "more realistic choices" than those named.