Our view: Network stars highlight SSC's 2009 speaker series

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February 17, 2009

Anonymous The Salem News Tue Feb 17, 2009, 05:05 AM EST

The Salem State College Speaker Series remains on a roll, booking NBC late-night host Jay Leno and ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff for its 2009 season.

Last fall, college officials snagged conservative columnist George Will at the last minute to fill in for John and Elizabeth Edwards, after the Edwardses canceled in the wake of allegations the former North Carolina senator and one-time presidential contender had had an affair with a campaign staffer.

Will delivered an eloquent and prescient pre-election talk on the problems that would face the next president. He remains an influential voice in Washington and was one of the first people Barack Obama sought out upon returning to Washington last month.

As for John Edwards, who knows where he is these days? Furthermore, who cares?

The SSC Speaker Series has developed a knack for timing, hosting Bill Clinton for what was his first public appearance after leaving office in 2001. This year, it will bring Leno to campus April 6, just weeks before he makes his final "Tonight Show" appearance. (He'll be back in the fall on a new NBC show to air at 10 p.m.)

And in another nice note, the Andover native is waiving his usual fee with the stipulation that proceeds go to a scholarship fund set up in memory of the late Barbara Sogoloff. Her husband, Swampscott resident Leonard Sogoloff, gave Leno his start doing comedy in the early 1970s at Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike, which was a popular nightspot on Route 1 in Peabody at the time.

The tight economic times have forced the college to reduce the number of speakers from three to two, but the 2009 series promises plenty of substance. In the fall, Woodruff and his wife, Lee, will appear to talk about how their family dealt with the consequences of the serious injuries the newsman received when he was struck by a roadside bomb while reporting from Iraq in 2005.

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