On May 13, President Barack Obama not only addressed ASU’s 2009 graduating class but set a precedent for every commencement speaker to follow. That evening, applause and laughter ricocheted throughout Sun Devil Stadium as graduates and spectators witnessed and joined one of the biggest college graduations in U.S. history.

This year’s senior class, however, refuses to be daunted. Determined to acquire an unforgettable commencement speaker and create their own history, many ASU seniors have already begun to campaign for an individual they deem worthy of the challenge: Stephen Colbert, the entertaining host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

If you are considering advocating for Colbert as well, contemplate the following before you express support for his candidacy as ASU’s 2010 commencement speaker — an individual who is supposed to inspire, challenge and encourage students at their graduation.

Stephen Colbert utilizes his parody as a defense, from which he fires humorous missiles of mockery and contempt. Such skills, usually improvisational, are often entertaining and witty, but the man who delivers them lacks the ability to inspire. Humor does not substitute for a motivational life story, creativity (after all, Colbert admits that he emulates others) or a message from the heart that reflects meaning and a life purpose.

Shouldn’t a commencement speaker be a leader, one who students can admire and look up to? After four years in the college classroom, students should appreciate content over celebrity status and be willing to dismiss superficiality in the name of quality.

Colbert may entertain, but will he reflect the opinions and feelings of graduates and the audience? Most important of all, will he impact their future actions and thoughts, or will his words fade and eventually fall prey to the mere memory of laughter?

Graduations are a celebration of student achievement, hard work and dedication. And commencement speakers are elected for the purpose of expressing inspiration and congratulations to said students.

Colbert is not the best candidate for such a role; he has proven that he lacks a serious side and strictly adheres to his parodying character, like a mime in makeup. On graduation day, students have earned the right to have their accomplishments recognized, not the opportunity to open themselves and their bastion of learning to jokes and possible ridicule.

Andrew Clark, president of Associated Students of Arizona State University West Campus (ASASUW), agrees that there is no serious side to Colbert.

“There is a time and a place for [Colbert’s] humor, but graduation is not the time or place ... do you really want Colbert to make fun of you for having graduated?” Clark said.

Regardless of the caliber of speech Colbert might deliver, his presence alone could lessen our ability as students to be taken seriously.

Nominate or support Colbert for a graduation party or pre-commencement entertainment, not the graduation commencement speech.

Colbert has established his skills — profoundness and motivating rhetoric are not among them. Students deserve an authentic speaker, not a satirist pretending to be a Sun Devil.

Reach Jennifer at jmbollig@asu.edu.