About a half-century ago, Secretary of State George C. Marshall used his commencement speech at Harvard to announce what came to be known as the “Marshall Plan.” Of course, not every commencement address can be a major policy pronouncement by a leading statesman, but this year’s decision to give that coveted platform to Oprah Winfrey represents a new low for my alma mater.

I say a “new low” because there already have been some lows. The speaker in 2007 was Bill Gates, a perfect man for the job except that his decision to drop out of Harvard without graduating seemingly proves the unimportance of, well, graduating from Harvard. And the choice of J.K. Rowling in 2008 smacked of pandering, though next to Oprah she looks like George Eliot. Now Harvard, often accused of being the world’s most overexposed university, has outdone itself by choosing to honor the world’s most overexposed talk-show host.