According to Yale Daily News and the Class Day Planning Committee member Shuyu Song, the writer was selected based on her ability to give a meaningful and memorable address to the class.

In recent years, most of the Class Day speakers have been politicians, including former US secretary of state John Kerry and former US VP Joe Biden.

“The committee cannot imagine a better speaker to commemorate our four years at Yale than Adichie,” members of the 2019 Class Day Committee wrote in an email on Sunday.

“She is an inspiring global citizen whose words, teaching and social activism have had an indelible impact on the diaspora and broader contemporary culture.”

Song also said:

“Given Adichie’s extraordinary experience and poignant literary commentary, we have no doubt that her participation in Class Day will be a memorable part of this day of celebration and address concerns that are relevant to our class as we reflect on the changes that we have witnessed on this campus in the past few years.

Comments are closed.