The single best commencement ceremonies I have been involved in was the final one for Mount Ida College in 2018. The seniors who were so angry about the announced closure “disinvited” the Trustees, CFO and President. They also told the speaker and honorary degree recipients that they were no longer invited. They asked me (VPSA) to be the speaker and gave honorary degrees to people they loved from campus - including the guy who made their sandwiches in the dining room and the soccer coach who died in February of that same year of Brain cancer. The students ran the ceremony (yes, we gave them the script), but they did the work at the microphone.
We moved the event off campus because we couldn’t pull off the security and the parking and the volunteers, but it made it so smooth. And we spent what we would have on campus.
I will never forget the crankiest and most curmudgeonly faculty member sitting behind me on the stage, tapping me on the shoulder and saying “this is the best commencement I’ve been to in 50 years. Why didn’t we do this before?”
Oh. My. God. YES! I attended just one of these awful events yesterday and was struck by the complete lack of consideration to the audience--the graduates and their families. On and on with the self-important speeches that would not end even from people whose only actual job was to say something like: "We accept your recommendation." I amused myself by inventing a drinking game for which words like "journey," "embark," and "persevere" got a swig. Finally, after an hour and a half of this, I ended up loaning out my cowbell to families up and down the row so they could make appropriate noise for the (only) part we all came for. Please, leadership, for the love of all that is holy and good. Keep the ritual. Keep yourself out of it. Keep it short.
The single best commencement ceremonies I have been involved in was the final one for Mount Ida College in 2018. The seniors who were so angry about the announced closure “disinvited” the Trustees, CFO and President. They also told the speaker and honorary degree recipients that they were no longer invited. They asked me (VPSA) to be the speaker and gave honorary degrees to people they loved from campus - including the guy who made their sandwiches in the dining room and the soccer coach who died in February of that same year of Brain cancer. The students ran the ceremony (yes, we gave them the script), but they did the work at the microphone.
We moved the event off campus because we couldn’t pull off the security and the parking and the volunteers, but it made it so smooth. And we spent what we would have on campus.
I will never forget the crankiest and most curmudgeonly faculty member sitting behind me on the stage, tapping me on the shoulder and saying “this is the best commencement I’ve been to in 50 years. Why didn’t we do this before?”
Oh. My. God. YES! I attended just one of these awful events yesterday and was struck by the complete lack of consideration to the audience--the graduates and their families. On and on with the self-important speeches that would not end even from people whose only actual job was to say something like: "We accept your recommendation." I amused myself by inventing a drinking game for which words like "journey," "embark," and "persevere" got a swig. Finally, after an hour and a half of this, I ended up loaning out my cowbell to families up and down the row so they could make appropriate noise for the (only) part we all came for. Please, leadership, for the love of all that is holy and good. Keep the ritual. Keep yourself out of it. Keep it short.