Gov. Bobby Jindal will deliver the address at the 2008 spring commencement ceremony May 16, Chancellor Sean O’Keefe said Wednesday. “I had invited then-Congressman Bobby Jindal, and shortly after he became governor, he accepted,” O’Keefe said O’Keefe said Jindal will speak if approved by LSU System President John Lombardi and Williams Jenkins, former System president who will follow O’Keefe as the interim chancellor. Charles Zewe, LSU System vice president for communication and external affairs, said the University would be happy to have Jindal speak at the ceremony. “LSU would be delighted to have Governor Jindal as our commencement speaker in May,” Zewe said. “It’s a high honor for the University to have a governor choose to address our spring commencement.” Donna Brazile, University alumna and campaign manager of Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000, delivered the spring commencement address in 2007. Brazile broke the University’s streak of Republicans speaking at the spring commencement. Some high profile Republican speakers welcomed by the University include Vice President Dick Cheney in spring 2006, his wife Lynne Cheney in 2003, President George W. Bush in 2004 and President George H.W. Bush in 2001.
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