Like the majority of the Emory community, we presume, we were pleased by the announcement that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the Commencement speaker for the class of 2010.

Consider, for a moment, that when members of the current graduating class were freshmen in spring 2007, the commencement speaker was Harvard anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer. When they were sophomores, the speaker was Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. Without demeaning the accomplishments or performance of those two individuals — and any other previous speakers at Emory graduation ceremonies — it seems fair to say that the “Governator,” as one of the most name-recognizable Commencement speakers in Emory history, will provide seniors with the sort of memorable, noteworthy ceremony that is their due.

Per usual, the process through which Emory ended up with its eventual choice for Commencement speaker was a tangled one. And although it would be somewhat unreasonable to be upset that the administration did not procure any of the candidates compiled by the student advisory committee consulted for the occasion — Emory can’t be expected to control who is available and who isn’t — we do hope that the administration keeps students involved in the process in future years. This year, Emory did well in bringing in Schwarzenegger. However, if the speakers the administration finds for upcoming Commencements are perceived as not meeting students’ expectations, then one can expect questions to be raised as to the degree to which Emory takes into account the opinions it solicits yearly from the student body.

The raising of students’ expectations concerning Commencement speakers is a positive drawback of such an announcement. Like it or not, future selections will be judged against Schwarzenegger; while it wouldn’t be fair to expect someone with such star power every year, it would be reasonable for students to expect an instantly recognizable name.

While star power can’t be everything, it definitely is almost everything as far as Commencement speakers are concerned. Students, parents, faculty and alums don’t expect anything particularly awe-inspiring; they do, however, expect something memorable. It should be safe to assume that the Schwarzenegger selection accomplishes at least this much.

Now, here’s to hoping that he closes out the class of 2010’s undergraduate career at Emory with the words “Hasta la vista, baby” — after all, it’s the least we can expect after he almost single-handedly ruined the Batman franchise during our childhoods.

The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel's editorial board.