Photo by Liz Kameen.

I recently saw a post from Lafayette College announcing that Lin-Manuel Miranda will speak at the school on Feb. 12, 2026. 

After some research, I found that Lehigh University has hosted numerous influential speakers, including its Compelling Perspectives series, which featured former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta discussing national security. Other speakers, such as journalist Katie Couric, Marty Baron and V Spehar, have spoken at Lehigh regarding the evolving role of media. 

More recently, figures such as Arianna Huffington and Senator Dave McCormick have tackled the ethical and political stakes of artificial intelligence. Lehigh also hosted Carl Bernstein, one of the legendary journalists who broke the Watergate scandal, in 2019. Moravian also hosted Bernstein in 2017 as the Cohen Arts & Lecture speaker, but we have lacked speakers since. 

Moravian prides itself on cultivating critical thinkers, yet its speaker programming tells a different story. While our campus lacks speakers in general, when we do host, we cycle through forgettable lectures that rarely challenge power or spark sustained conversation; while nearby, Lehigh University has built a speaker series that engages with the students of the university, their interests, and even speakers they may not be familiar with, but are still curious in learning about.

Why does Moravian, a university that pledges how it values civic engagement and intellectual rigor, consistently fail to offer its students speakers with comparable relevance, range, or impact?

Moravian has silently stopped hosting speakers through the In-Focus program in the last few years, which was one of the few programs that brought speakers to the school. I remember vividly attending and covering the Down with Diet Culture Lecture hosted by Katie Bongiorno, LMFT, my freshman year in 2022, and I do not know of any other speakers or program at Moravian that hosts similar speakers or events (besides the Moravian Story Summit.) 

Reeves Library also offers research chats and author speakers, but these are funded from its own budget. 

The only notable speakers I have been able to find in the last 25 years are Bill Cosby, who came to Moravian in 2014 (pre-conviction, but post-allegations), and James Franco in 2016 (who was also facing allegations of sexual assault, and before further allegations later arose). In 2019, Drake Bell performed at Moravian College Orientation, before his allegations. 

Now, out of every celebrity I could find, we brought three comedians who were in the process of receiving – or prior to – their sexual assault allegations.

And, the most disappointing aspect is that we have led monumental speakers and events at Moravian. In 1990, former President Jimmy Carter spoke at Moravian; how do we go from former president of the U.S., to disgraced comedians? 

I do want to highlight that the Moravian Writers’ Conference, recently renamed The Story Summit, has always led some amazing conversations and guest speakers. My personal favorites have been No River Twice, an improv spoken word group, and Shining Light, which highlights creative work from incarcerated people. 

But, there should be more options for students to attend guest speakers. The lack of these speakers has consequences: they are one of the few ways students encounter ideas and people outside the classroom who are actively shaping politics, culture, law and media. This is priming students to think critically, argue ethically and engage civically, especially with disciplines outside of the classroom, or their specific field. 

A lack of various speakers is also a competitive failure; we compete with schools like Lehigh and Lafayette for students, tuition dollars and legitimacy. Speaker programming is one of the most visible ways a university signals seriousness and relevance. When prospective students see Lin-Manuel Miranda at Lafayette and former heads of state and investigative journalists at Lehigh, and nothing comparable here – I know what decision I would make when looking into LVAIC schools. 

Whether Moravian intends it or not, the institution looks disconnected from the world it claims to prepare students for.

Who decides which speakers matter? Where does the funding go? Can students petition for a notable speaker to come back to Moravian? These are not unreasonable demands; a university that claims to value civic engagement and intellectual rigor should be able to answer them.

Moravian does not lack students hungry for ideas, nor faculty committed to critical inquiry, nor the resources to invite the world onto campus. What it lacks is the will to do so consistently. And until that changes, Moravian will continue to talk about preparing students for the real world, while refusing to let that world through the door.