Every year, the Tufts Community Union Senate bestows its ‘Light on the Hill’ award, the highest honor the students can bestow on a distinguished alumnus. And this year, Jeff is the recipient. “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to invite him,” Neil DiBiase, the TCU president, tells The Tufts Daily. “He really does do great things, and we haven’t recently honored alumni who have done things in science and technology.”

However, Jeff wasn’t their first choice. In fact, he wasn’t their second choice, either. The student paper writes that the TCU originally offered the award to Meredith Vieira, who declined for unknown reasons, although she will deliver this year’s commencement address. The Senate also looked into offering the award to actor Oliver Platt after Vieira turned it down, but his schedule prevented him from coming to Tufts this semester. So Jeff is the consolation prize.

The TCU president, though, says that Kindler had been on the original list of possible alumni, but the Senate didn’t expect him to be able to travel to Tufts. “We didn’t think we’d be able to get him,” DiBiase tells The Daily. But Kindler is already scheduled to come to campus in April for other reasons, so he may accept the award and deliver his address then. “We would rather wait to find a better opportunity for him to come to campus when his schedule is more available,” DiBiase says. “The point of the award is to get [alumni] back to campus.”

Kindler’s office told DiBiase that he would make a decision within a few days because he is currently traveling. “I was told to expect an answer Friday or Monday,” he says. “We’re pretty confident he’ll be able to come this semester.”