There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a college or university, but the most often overlooked factor is the ability to attract decent commencement speakers. Liberty University, for example, may seem like a relative bargain for a private school (only $22,880!), but there’s an enormous hidden cost: students might end up having to listen to Donald Trump give a speech. Meanwhile, the University of Southern California costs more than twice as much—$51,442 in tuition alone—but that extra money buys a lot of Donald Trump Commencement Insurance. This year, not only did USC’s graduating students avoid Trump, they got a commencement address from alumnus Will Ferrell, the proud owner of a 1990 degree in the field of “Sports Information” (Ferrell: “a program so difficult, so arduous, that they discontinued the major eight years after I left”), and, as of Friday, an honorary doctorate.

Ferrell joked about his relative unfitness for the honorary doctorate circuit, running down the accomplishments of the other honorees—including a surgeon, an AIDs researcher, and Dame Helen Mirren—before listing his own achievements, primarily “running naked through the city of Montrose in Old School.” But it was the unexpected musical numbers that really put his commencement speech over the top: first an impassioned falsetto version of the theme song from Star Trek (at 15:44), a relic from his early stand-up days, and then the grand finale. Ferrell closed his speech by telling the graduates that when things inevitably got tough, they should “imagine me—literally picture my face—singing this song gently into your ear,” before launching into a tender, off-key rendition of “I Will Always Love You.” Ferrell really hit the commencement speech sweet spot here: not so inspirational it wears out its welcome, and, just as crucially, not Donald Trump.