An e-mail from Bryan Snyder '05 complaining to President Jehuda Reinharz about this year's commencement speaker has shed light on confusion about the selection process for honorary degree recipients and commencement speakers.University officials have told the Justice that student representatives are responsible for informing students that they can nominate honorary degree recipients, who can later be chosen to be the keynote speaker at their commencement. But those representatives say they were never informed that it was their sole responsibility to relay that information.

Snyder wrote in his email that "clearly [Chief Justice of the Massachusettes Supreme Judicial Court Margaret] Marshall has led a very accomplished life and accomplished a few amazing feats, but I challenge you to find one graduating senior who was thrilled to learn that she will be giving our keynote address."

Reinharz, attempting to forward the e-mail to his executive assistant, John Hose, accidentally replied to Snyder, writing, "John, find out if he is on scholarship." That snafu garnered the attention of the Waltham Daily News Tribune.

Snyder posted those e-mails, as well as his reply to the President, on his Web site shortly after seniors learned on April 12 that Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was tapped to be their commencement speaker.

Reinharz said that he had no problem with the choice and that "if this wasn't the best choice for a commencement speaker, then she wouldn't be a commencement speaker."

He also said that student representatives to the Board of Trustee's Committee on Honorary Degree Recipients are supposed to notify students that they can nominate honorary degree recipients who can later become keynote speakers. But those two students, who had not heard of that duty, said their roles were not clearly defined.

Snyder wrote another e-mail to Reinharz last fall recommending the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as a graduation speaker. Cohen is the star of the HBO show Da Ali G Show. According to Reinharz, this nomination came too late to see fruition.

Anyone can nominate an honorary degree recipient, Reinharz said, as long as it is done about two years in advance. He said the advance notice is required to secure arrangements with prominent potential degree recipients. With this timetable, second-semester juniors and all seniors may not be able to successfully nominate a degree recipient who could then become a speaker.

When this reporter, a sophomore, told Reinharz he didn't remember being asked to nominate a commencement speaker, Reinharz said, "Not true."

Reinharz's Executive Assistant John Hose explained that there are two student representatives to the Board of Trustees' Committee on Honorary Degree Recipients. This year, the representatives were Darnisa Amante '06 and Rick Brabander (GRAD).

Since the committee's founding 18 years ago, the student representatives were asked "to communicate and spread the word to students through whatever mechanisms-senate or whatever-that there is a nomination process," Hose said.

Amante said she had asked friends and acquaintances if they had suggestions for honorary degree nominations. She also said that when she went before the senate on numerous occasions, she suggested that senators offer her suggestions for honorary degree nominations after their meeting, but never requested that senators ask their constituents for nominations, nor did she say that she asked the senate to alert constituents of the nomination procedures.

Amante said that she was unaware of the lengthy process involved in securing a big-name recipient who will likely speak. She said she would alert the incoming representative to the board, Albert Cahn '07, of the issue.

In addition, Amante said she was open to the idea of e-mailing the entire first-year and sophomore classes, since their window for successfully nominating a graduation speaker will likely close within their junior year.

Brabander largely echoed Amante's responses, saying that while he was aware of the lengthy process necessary to secure a commencement speaker, he was "not aware that it is our [student representatives to the honorary degree committee's] sole responsibility to get the word out to students about how to nominate an honorary degree recipient."

Hose said that it is not the sole responsibility of the representatives, but it certainly has been discussed with them. It was fully expected that they would communicate that information to the students, he said.

Union President Jenny Feinberg '07, who previously served two terms as senator for the class of 2007, said that she never remembers being prompted by Amante to suggest honorary degree nominations at a senate meeting.

Feinberg said she would consider finding ways to reach out to students in order to hear their suggestions for honorary degree recipients and commencement speakers.

She also said that she feels Snyder's letter highlighted the need for the Union to improve channels for students to voice their concerns build up for four years.

Hose said that the student representatives to the honorary degree committee are not to blame if students did not nominate early enough, or even at all.

"The problem is that students generally work in a different time table than any of us [administrators] do," Hose said.

Hose said that students often do not think of things that will occur two years in advance-half the length of their college experience.

Snyder complained that Brandeis' commencement wouldn't be as good as Harvard's, where Cohen spoke or at the University of Pennsylvania, where the actor and comedian Will Ferrell spoke.

"They were able to offer their students a commencement that they would forever remember," Snyder wrote.

But Harvard and Penn did not award the celebrities speakers honorary degrees. They spoke only at senior speaker ceremonies prior to commencement.

"Do you want to have the same person you see all day long on television? Or do you want to learn something?" Reinharz said, questioning the value of a celebrity speaker. "It's a question of which should happen.

"Maybe we are doing this all wrong. Is it about entertainment? Is it about glitz? Is it about fame? If I brought a big sports person, would that make a difference? I don't get the same answer from all the students."

"A person who receives an honorary degree from Brandeis, in my mind, is a reflection of some of the values of the university," he said.

Snyder's e-mail highlighted complaints too. He said he felt the skating rink constructed outside of the Shapiro Campus Center in January was a waste of students' money and that the administration should not give out the names of students living off campus to the Waltham Police, who Snyder said "preempted" off-campus parties.

Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer told the Hoot that no such list of students exists.

"There is no way for the University to know where students live, if they don't live on campus and they don't list the address on their registration and directory forms," Sawyer told The Hoot. "I have no list of where off-campus students live. The only way I know is when Waltham reports police responses to Waltham residences where Brandeis students reside."

However, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan told the Justice last September that every year, the Waltham Police Department receives a list of students living off campus. He said the police then visit each to warn them of the policy regarding parties.

"There is always a concern that students don't realize that some of the people living in those houses next to them have to get up early in the morning," Callahan said in September. "It's a quality of life issue. So there has to be a balance for students to have guests and the lives of those people who live next door to them. Everyone must be respectful of other people's rights.