Columbia University has announced its three spokespersons for College Day. Ben Jealous, the youngest CEO of NAACP, is speaking for Columbia College. Meryl Streep, the winning actress of 16 Academy Awards, is speaking for Barnard College. And Paul Brandt-Rauf,the Dean of the School of Health at the University of Illinois, for SEAS. The students had mixed feelings.

A exclaimed one excited Barnard student, "I'm so excited that Meryl Streep is coming. I've seen a lot of her films including Julie & Julia."

A SEAS student was not so impressed, as he said, "The speaker that we have for SEAS, compared to who we have for Barnard, Meryl Streep, the speaker for SEAS nor the speaker for Columbia College is that interesting."

One Columbia College student thought her speaker was impressed after hearing about her speaker: "I, at first, did not know who Ben Jealous was. Now that I hear about who he is and what he's done, I'm really excited about him coming here. Compared to Merly Streep, she has more fame but I think our guy has a lot of credit. So I'm excited."

Except for Barnard, however, students said the schools could have done better.

While a Columbia College student was excited: "I think for our class speaker, it would be great to have James Cameron. The obsess he created with Avatar, he can come in and talk about being James Cameron," the Barnard College student [could not] really think of other people I would want to come."

One Columbia College student was satisfied with Ben Jealous but thought "it really would have been great if we could have had Obama. He had a Nobel Peace Prize."

"If Barnard could have Meryl Streep we can at least get Lady Gaga," commented one SEAS student.

Columbia University Class Day is on May 16th for SEAS and Barnard College. Columbia College will have its Class Day on May 17th. More information is available on Columbia's Commencement 2010 website.