What a difference a week makes.A little over a week ago, members of the senior class attending a meeting in the cafeteria’s Walnut Room were being briefed by Dean of Campus Life Ann Lundquist on how Howard Coble had been selected as the May, 2003, graduation speaker.Recent developments suggest that this selection may prove to not be as final as we once thought.Amidst the controversy surrounding Coble’s selection, as well as his recent remarks on the radio, we should not lose sight of the gracious gesture Coble made by offering to step down if even one senior voiced disagreement with his participation in graduation (see story page one). Given that at least one senior has been active in gathering signatures for a petition to have Howard replaced, it is probable that Kent Chabotar and the Convocation and Celebrations committee will be faced with finding a new graduation speaker.Should this prove to be the case, I thought it worthwhile to reflect a bit on how the committee could proceed promptly, recognizing the shortage of time, while also nurturing the community and some of the tensions that have arisen in the present atmosphere.First, the committee needs to set up a nomination process for proposing a new speaker. Establishing an e-mail account or phone number where people could submit nominations would be essential to this effort.Such a process would, out of necessity, have boundaries. Guilford had not budgeted money for a graduation speaker, and while the president reallocated some funds to underwrite one, they are reported to be minimal. Probably, a new speaker would need to come from one of three constituencies: members of the current Guilford community, alumni, or residents of the greater Piedmont Triad area who have limited traveling expenses or fees.Perhaps the nominating process could be opened to alumni to soothe any disappointment over a Coble resignation. However, for sure the nominating process should be opened to the current senior class, for whom graduation embodies a transition into the next stage of our lives.Once a list of names develops through nomination, I think it would be appropriate for the Convocation and Celebration committee to whittle the list down to 3-5 finalists. The finalists could then be voted on by the senior class at Senior Salute, coming up in just two weeks, Feb. 27.This approach is not devoid of problems, and it does guarantee that selection of a new speaker would take at least two more weeks, something which might make senior college officials nervous as graduation creeps ever closer. Still, given that we are already in mid February, possibly on the verge of having to select a new graduation speaker and hoping they do not decline, it seems like taking a few extra days to help seniors feel like they have an ownership over their graduation is not a bad risk to take.