The speaker at this year's Columbia J-School commencement is former Washington Post executive editor and current WaPo VP Ben Bradlee, he of Deep Throat knowledge and Pentagon Papers-publishing, as Columbia Dean of Students Sree Sreenivasan wrote in an email to students yesterday. But do all of the J-schoolers know who Bradlee is? Sreenivasan's email seemed to imply they sure might not.

ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, the winner of the school's highest honor, the Columbia Journalism Award (and therefore, the main graduation speaker for you and your guests) is BEN BRADLEE, the legendary editor of The Washington Post. During his years as executive editor of the Post from 1965-1991, he helped transform the paper from a local daily into an internationally-recognized, world-class news operation. Among the stories he was intimately involved with: the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Adjunct professor Betsy West told me just last night how how great a big-event speaker Bradlee is and that we are all in for a treat.

More on Bradlee at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bradlee

Wikipedia! Primary source of information for journalists everywhere, whether ethical or not.

Earlier: Columbia J-School Ethics Scandal Gets More Scandalous, McCarthy-esque