Mayor Eric Garcetti will give the commencement speech to undergraduates of his alma mater, Columbia University, his office confirmed Tuesday.
The commencement is set for May 19 in New York City.
Garcetti received a bachelor’s degree in 1992 and a master’s degree in 1993 from Columbia.
The mayor announced the news in a video to Columbia University seniors. In the video, he points to a blurry photo of himself as a freshman in the college yearbook, looking, he said, “not very happy — but four years later I was a transformed person.”
“Thank you for inviting me to be your graduation speaker,” he continued. “I can’t think of four better years of my life than the years I spent at Columbia.
“And the things that I’ve learned, the people I’ve met and the activism that was born in me, I’ve taken with me every step of the way,” he said.
Garcetti ended his message by holding up a copy of philosopher John Stuart Mill’s book “On Liberty,” saying that he needs to “get back to my core (reading). I try to do it about once a month or so. I’ll see you in May.”
— City News Service