Money over Meaning: Invited Speaker Selection and Institutional Signaling in Higher Education

Invited speakers are central to key events in higher education, particularly graduations, conferences, and institutional forums, where they are expected to offer insight and meaningful engagement. However, the criteria underlying their selection remain largely implicit and are often misaligned with these goals. In practice, speaker selection frequently favors visibility, wealth, and status, even when these do not ensure relevance or depth.This paper examines invited speaker selection as an institutional practice shaped by symbolic capital, elite reproduction, and signaling processes. Drawing on a conceptual and theory-driven approach, it argues that authority in such contexts is often constructed through recognition rather than substantive contribution.Focusing on higher education, the paper proposes a contribution-based framework grounded in four criteria: impact, relevance, integrity, and substance. This framework offers a structured approach for evaluating speakers based on their ability to provide meaningful and contextually relevant insights.The study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing speaker selection as a distinct institutional mechanism and by offering a practical model that supports more deliberate and transparent speaker selection aligned with the core educational purposes of higher education institutions.