Unhappy students arrived at Clifford Zimmerman's office, ready to speak their minds. The Northwestern University School of Law had announced that talk show host Jerry Springer would be its 2008 commencement speaker, and Zimmerman, the law school's dean, soon learned that some students and parents weren't thrilled.

Even though Springer is an alumnus of the Illinois law school and a student committee had chosen him, "there were a few who said, ‘My grandmother isn't coming to commencement,'" Zimmerman says.

The speech happened anyway—and Springer's message about ethics and humility received a standing ovation.

But commencement addresses don't always end with cheers. Increasingly, universities are experiencing blowback from students, faculty, alumni, and the community over graduation speaker choices.

Call it "disinvitation season." That's how the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education refers to the few weeks each year when most colleges and universities announce commencement speakers. Protests of these decisions have become more and more popular: Of 61 demands for campus speaker disinvitations from 2012–2014, 26 resulted in the speaker not appearing, according to a 2014 FIRE report.

"High-profile commencement speakers can bring great rewards or huge headaches. And sometimes you don't know until you've got the person on board," says Rae Goldsmith, chief marketing and communications officer at Southern Illinois University.

In 2014, Rutgers University invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak at its graduation ceremony, but faculty and student protesters stirred up negative media attention over Rice's role in the Iraq War. Rice withdrew from speaking. In 2006, Muslim students at Nova Southeastern University boycotted the graduation ceremony in protest of author Salman Rushdie, noted for his criticism of Islam. In 1990, first lady Barbara Bush was criticized by a group of Wellesley College students—not for her politics but for her career choices. The students felt she had "gained recognition through the achievements of her husband." Ouch.

These battles between students, alumni, and the administration make headlines and go viral on social media, leaving troubles for all involved.

"Usually there aren't many winners in those scenes," says Michael Kiser, vice president for marketing and communications at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. "The committee that selects that speaker looks tone-deaf, the people who protest seem petulant, the speakers who come anyway seem defiant, and the ones who withdraw seem like they're cowering in the face of protest. It boxes everybody into a very uncomfortable set of choices."

What's the big deal? What drives people to protest so vocally about a 15-minute speech they won't even recall years later? When a doctoral student in organization studies at Stanford polled a random sample of 232 alumni from the past 40 years, just over half remembered who spoke at their graduation.

Colleges have always dealt with unhappiness concerning campus speakers, but Kiser suggests two reasons protesters seem more prevalent and persuasive these days. First, social media and crowdsourcing play a role—people have more outlets to express their views and dissatisfactions.Second, students seem to have more of a say-so in these kinds of decisions than in the past. "Institutions tend to listen to students more in general—from the kind of courses they want to the type of campus life they should have," Kiser says. Colleges might ask students to sit on the commencement committee or to take a campuswide poll for speaker suggestions. While more inclusive, these actions can also lend themselves to more outrage if you don't please the majority of the student body.

Can you play it safe?

Ideally, universities want a Jon Stewart–Stephen Hawking hybrid for a commencement speaker—a mix of the The Daily Show host's funny and entertaining personality with the renowned physicist and cosmologist's wisdom and intellect. But would people still find fault? Is Stewart too liberal? Would others protest Hawking's statements on religion?

"There's always a specter lurking, even if [commencement planners] don't come right out and say it. They think, ‘What happens if we bring somebody people don't agree with?' It's hard," Kiser says.

Mounting speaker fees for top names add to the pressure and bring their own murmurings of disapproval. In 2014, Kean University in New Jersey paid comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Darrell Hammond $25,000 to give his alma mater's commencement speech. In it, he touched on his undergraduate drinking days and underwhelming academic performance—a message some graduates felt missed the mark. Hillary Clinton reportedly receives more than $200,000 for campus speeches (though not necessarily commencement addresses), a fee which recently upset students at University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in light of tuition hikes at the institutions. And the University of Houston is getting some bad buzz this year for its $135,000 payout to actor Matthew McConaughey, even before he steps up to the podium.

So what's an institution to do? Colleges can try to avoid controversy by inviting safe choices, such as local celebrities, former university presidents, or successful alumni—though even that can backfire. In 2009, UCLA students flamed actor James Franco, a 2008 graduate of the university, for not being "esteemed" enough to speak at commencement. He later withdrew, citing a scheduling conflict.

Weighing the pros and cons of a particular speaker could drive a commencement committee crazy, yet each year universities vie for the big names in an attempt to please their students and community. So what are the benefits? And what is the best way to respond when the complaints begin and comments start flooding your Facebook page?

When speeches go viral … or don't

Commencement addresses are like old sitcoms: Thanks to YouTube and Twitter, they can live on forever. Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, both in video and text form, remains the top hit on the university's website. New York Times columnist David Brooks recently mentioned John Gardner's 1991 speech at Stanford, prompting a flurry of requests for the transcript.

Yet interesting speakers appear on campuses every day. So is the media coverage worth it? No, Kiser says. "Unless the president is coming and told the press he intends to announce a major shift in foreign policy, you're not going to get good media coverage. It's not going to help your long-term strategic goals, and most [media relations experts] recognize that."

Media coverage shouldn't be a university's motivation for hiring graduation speakers, says Carlton Sedgeley, president of Royce Carlton, which manages and brokers speakers for commencements and other events. He worries that negative media attention can overshadow the purpose of the event. "Commencement can be a tremendously important event, but if it becomes snagged with controversy, it's best to try something, or someone, else," he says.

When media coverage goes bad, it's tempting to stick your fingers in your ears and hum "Pomp and Circumstance." (Interestingly, many of the institutions contacted for this article declined to be interviewed about their commencement speaker experiences.) But the way a university—especially its advancement office—deals with protests and negative coverage can minimize any damage to student, alumni, and faculty relationships.

The most important thing is to listen, Goldsmith says. Letting your constituents—alumni, students, parents, donors—know they're being heard can be a good first step in taming the situation. It worked for Zimmerman when he let his law students voice their unhappiness about Jerry Springer—many of those disapproving students thanked him for listening and apologized after they heard the speech.

Knowing when and how to respond to a situation takes some skill, Goldsmith points out. You don't want to aggressively contact your alumni about a controversy that might quickly blow over, but you also don't want to appear unresponsive or clueless. "Communications offices in particular should always be ready to respond, even if you don't. Get your talking points ready," she says. Then, you're prepared even if you never need to use them.

Donor and alumni opportunities

Tapping into the advancement office's network can make a graduation committee's decisions easier and more expansive. The director of development can suggest major donors who would be interested in attending a mix-and-mingle event with the speaker. The director might also know an alumnus who is the nephew of the neighbor of the cousin of that important celebrity you're dying to invite.

Many of the speaker contracts Sedgeley negotiates include more than just the speech. Lunches, dinners, and book signings are all popular add-ons—and can impress key donors.

"If you're carving out room in [the speaker's] contract to engage with the university in other ways, that's pretty smart if you can make it work," Goldsmith says. "Does this mean the donor sits down right after and writes a check? No, it's just one more step to keeping donors engaged with the life of the university [so they] continue to support it."

"I don't think anyone would say that a commencement speaker brings a financial return to the university," says Lisa Lapin, associate vice president for university communications at Stanford. "For us, the value is that our grads have a positive, inspirational experience."

A prominent speaker can also spark interest from alumni who might want to attend the ceremony. For 2015's commencement keynote by Mitt Romney at Jacksonville University, director of alumni relations Kimberly Grant is planning an alumni viewing party at an on-campus pub, complete with mimosas. "An exciting commencement speaker is a good way to get people from the community engaged in the university," says Lisa Walker, president-elect of the North American Association of Commencement Officers. The most popular commencement speakers, Walker has noticed, usually result in the most ticket requests from people outside the university community. A good speaker can engage alumni and show that the university is still relevant and exciting.

Transcending the speaker

No doubt that scheduling a Bill Gates or a Katie Couric year after year at commencement adds prestige to your institution, looks good on the website, and hey, let's face it, brings a level of cool to the university. But despite best intentions for branding, engagement, and media spotlight, in the end, the focus should be on the graduates. "If you can't do something for them," Sedgeley says, "go do something else."

As the Stanford poll about remembering speakers shows, the overall experience may be more fulfilling and memorable than any platitudes delivered on stage. "If a speaker is truly great, it elevates the moment," Kiser says. Even when a speech flops, "it doesn't diminish that profound feeling in the air."

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Read more:

Instead of paying for commencement speakers, Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, asks speakers to make a gift.

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Other ways to be memorable

Wary of big-name speakers? Here's how universities have lined up memorable speeches for graduates without relying on the celebs.

A speaker with conviction. Literally.

Goddard College in Vermont is not concerned about bringing speakers with alternative viewpoints—in fact the college embraces it. Founding President Royce "Tim" Pitkin's philosophy is to "get students to think—not to tell them what to think." The low-residency college holds 20 commencement ceremonies each year so that graduates enjoy personalized experiences with the ceremony and speaker. In December 2001, graduates invited anti-war protester David Dellinger to discuss his controversial views on how the U.S. military and capitalism have influenced terrorism, just three months after the Sept.11 attacks. Mumia Abu-Jamal (pictured above)—a prolific author and Goddard alumnus—addressed 2014 graduates by video from the Pennsylvania prison where he is serving a life sentence for killing a police officer. The university hoped the speech would spark students to "engage and think radically and critically," but it also unleashed "a barrage of scornful press reports, hate-laced phone messages, and social media backlash," according to a recent article in the institution's alumni magazine. 

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Gravitas without gravity

Last year, the University of Connecticut's School of Engineering's commencement speaker was out of this world. NASA astronaut and UConn alumnus Rick Mastracchio spoke to students while floating, at times upside down, inside the International Space Station. 

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A speaker of one's own

Many commencements feature student speakers, but they're rarely the stars. At Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, students take center stage at commencement. Would-be speakers go through an application process, but the payoff is the honor of addressing nearly 7,000 attendees. Brown University in Rhode Island is proud of its tradition of not inviting speakers to the commencement ceremony. Instead, a faculty committee chooses two members of the senior class to give short orations on the College Green the morning of graduation. 

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The smart way to snag a speaker

Getting a good commencement speaker is an art—and you don't always need a connection. Carlton Sedgeley, president of the speakers agency Royce Carlton, has more than 45 years of experience in getting the best speakers. He reveals some of his insider knowledge:

Take a hint from the corporate world

Businesses know their brand and their audience, and they know how to choose speakers to reflect that. One of the hottest speakers at Royce Carlton is Nader Mousavizadeh, a geopolitical analyst whose talks catch fire because his insights into the global business world are valuable to the CEOs he addresses. "It's all about the takeaway," Sedgeley says. He believes that organizations should think more strategically about the kind of message they want their audience to hear, not just how popular or funny the celebrity is. "Universities are not thinking enough that way, and they should."

Forget the honorary degree

The honorary degree is becoming less compelling as payment for a speaker, Sedgeley says, because it is so common. An honorary degree is a nice gesture, but less so if it comes with the request to be the entertainment for the day. The common practice has another downside, Sedgeley says: "For some clients, their honorary degree list just gets longer and longer."

It's all in the timing

Make a formal ask about four to five months before the ceremony, Sedgeley suggests, though you should narrow your list of possibilities long before that. Some institutions begin the process 12 to 18 months in advance. "Ask too late, and you risk that the speaker is already booked. Ask too early, and you could get lost in the shuffle," he says.

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Six ways to woo the audience

Our experts weigh in on the key ingredients for a memorable commencement speech

Inspiration

Controversial speakers are worth the risk if they'll inspire your students, says Clifford Zimmerman, associate dean and dean of students at Northwestern University School of Law in Illinois. For the 2008 commencement, talk show host Jerry Springer shared his personal story and journey, from his grandparents' deaths in concentration camps to his first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from the Queen Mary at age five. "He had 'em from his first line. You could hear a pin drop in that auditorium," Zimmerman says.

Humor

Everyone appreciates a funny story, says Lisa Walker, president-elect of the North American Association of Commencement Officers. When comedian Ali Wentworth addressed Southern Illinois University graduates in 2014, she advised the audience, "First off, the best thing you can do in life, aside from marry George Clooney, is to laugh. Laugh loud, laugh often, and laugh at everything."

Relevance

"Graduating students deserve someone who is current in the intellectual or cultural world," says Michael Kiser, vice president for marketing and communications at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He cites writer David Foster Wallace's 2005 keynote at Kenyon College as a great example. Wallace connected with the spirit and personality of the university when he discussed the true meaning of a liberal arts degree. The talk earned a perennial spot on many "best commencement speeches" lists.

Personalization

Be meaningful, not mundane. Here's a classic example: In 1954, Robert Maynard Hutchins, associate director of the Ford Foundation, spent a week living on campus and attending classes at Pennsylvania's Haverford College so he could personalize his commencement address. That may not be easy today given many speakers' jam-packed schedules, but institutions can send along a packet with university publications, key facts and milestones, campus traditions, and other news items to help familiarize the speaker with the college.

Preparation

Some speakers will "get up there and talk about anything," says Carlton Sedgeley, president of the speakers agency Royce Carlton. The best ones prepare and find a synergy with the audience. When actor Richard T. Jones improvised and stumbled through an embarrassing speech at University of Maryland University College in 2011, some audience members felt slighted, and his mistake has been relived more than 260,000 times on YouTube.

Length

Shorter is better. We wouldn't remember the Gettysburg Address if Lincoln had blathered on for an hour. "One year, our speaker was supposed to talk for nine minutes, and she went on for 35," Walker says. "People were sleeping. … At one point, I thought all the air had been sucked out of the arena."