After years of listening to university officials talk at students, the last thing they need is yet another administrator to send them off into the real world.

Speakers are meant to challenge us and expand our horizons. Advice from a university president, be it our rival school or not, likely won’t bring any unique insights to the table. We’ve been there, heard that already. This year’s commencement promises more of the same.

Authors, politicians, CEOs and basically anyone from outside the university system would be preferable. Fortunately, undergraduates will either hear from James Hackett, CEO of Steelcase Inc., or Sergio Marchionne, chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group, LLC, and CEO of Fiat S.p.A. That still leaves advanced-degree graduates in the dust.

What students need before they attempt to make their way in the world is someone who is living that life and who has managed to succeed. A professional brings reassurance that leaving MSU isn’t the end of the world.

They can not only tell, but show how fulfilling making a name for ourselves can be. Just by sharing their story, they show us there is hope for an equally fulfilling life for students after graduation.

There is life outside of college. Too bad an administrator from another university is not necessarily walking proof of that, especially one whose previous experience also consists of acting as former president of the University of Iowa and working in the biochemistry faculty at the University of Kentucky for 19 years.

At the very least, Coleman will have a tougher time making the case that there is a wider world out there other than school.

Even a return visit from Gov. Rick Snyder would be better. Before his speech last December, a cluster of about 40 protesters angered by the right-to-work legislation he signed into law greeted him at the door.

He was not welcomed by everyone with open arms, but at least Snyder had something different to say, and at least he stirred up some controversy. When students enter the real world, they will have to face people with different perspectives and political philosophies than their own.

Politicians such as Snyder, or even the hotly contested appearance of World Bank President James Wolfensohn during a May 2000 commencement, bring new viewpoints to MSU and give a taste of the outside world.

The only new perspective Coleman can bring is that of our rivals, and we will be getting more than enough of that this weekend.

What might have been a conciliatory move by MSU to extend an olive branch to U-M does nothing for students. While efforts to maintain a peaceable rivalry and cut tensions between the schools are admirable, swapping presidents for commencement is not the best course.

The decision comes across as more of a public relations tactic than an effort to provide students with the best speaker. Regardless of the university’s intent, the move leaves soon-to-be graduates with a lackluster speaker.

When students already feel lukewarm about attending graduation ceremonies, bringing in unoriginal speakers doesn’t help fill seats. One bad, or in this case potentially uninteresting, speaker can be enough to deter students from even showing up.

If the university wants to engage students during their last big moment at MSU, it needs to expand its horizons when it comes to commencement speakers.