Caps and gowns have been purchased and tickets collected, but while Emerson’s class of 2009 may have everything in order for their upcoming graduation ceremony, they are still in the dark as to who their commencement speaker will be.

Though the Office of Public Affairs does know the identity of the individual set to deliver words of wisdom to the graduating class, it has yet to release a name to the public. Allison Teixeira, assistant to the Vice President for Communications and Marketing Andrew Tiedemann, said the office hopes to release the name of the speaker this week, but is unable to at this time.

“We want to, but there are a couple of hold-ups on the other end,” she said, but did not specify what exactly those hold ups were.

Emerson isn’t the only college that has yet to make the big announcement, but many have. Both the Northeastern and Boston University’s Web sites say they have not publicized who their speakers will be, although BU’s website said they will be announcing their speaker on May 1. Other neighboring institutions, like Wellesley, Emmanuel, Tufts and Babson have all made the identity of their speaker public.

As graduation’s May 18 date approaches, seniors are wondering why the name of this year’s commencement speaker is still a secret.

“It’s annoying. I think it’s weird, my friends and I have actually talked about it,” said senior radio major Kara Lee. “[I would] like an affirmation that someone is coming to speak to us.”

Senior screenwriting major Reggie Williams said while he personally isn’t concerned about the delayed announcement, he understands that other students do care and should have been told a month or two before the event. Williams said he has an idea of the type of person he’d like to see making the address.

“For me, being a writer and going to an art school, it would be cool to have someone who graduated from Emerson and made it big in their field,” he said, adding that the speaker should be someone students can look up to.

Emi Saza said she has only heard rumors of who might be addressing the class, one of which names Tina Fey as a possibility. The rumor has been around for several years, but has never turned out to be true.

Saza, a senior marketing major, said she isn’t particularly upset about the delayed reveal.

“If you think about it, this is just graduation, and there are other things to worry about right now anyway-like finals,” she said.

Senior Ana Gabbidon said she was initially frustrated about not yet knowing who the speaker will be, and said she thinks the administration probably hasn’t announced it either because they’re working on it or don’t know who it’s going to be.

“It’s irritating,” the political communication major said. “I just hope that they’re holding it back for a good reason.”