You cannot take the happiness and pride that a graduate and their family and friends feel on commencement day—but many institutions give it their best shot.
I mean, how many godawful boring commencements, or even ones that are just “fine,” do people have to go to until someone says, “Maybe we SHOULD do this better?”
We don’t give college commencements the time or attention they dissever because we are detached from how important they are. (I did a quick search on Google Scholar and found one paper—behind a paywall—on commencements. However, there were a number of papers about commencement addresses.)
Let’s be honest. How many of these things have we gone to, starting with the stupid but cute cap and gown parade of kindergarteners, that they have the same appeal as re-watching the Academy Awards? What’s the point?
Canceling commencements because of COVID reminded us that commencements are, in fact, important. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to make us want to do them better. A boring commencement is great compared to nothing.
By not giving commencements greater intentionality, we deprive our graduates, their family and friends, and ourselves of this amazing opportunity we rarely have—celebrate individual achievement while recognizing and honoring the people that, as a community, made it possible.
We miss how profound all of it is.
This makes me incredibly sad.
The Importance of Ritual
There are very few times in our lives when we are one thing on one day and known as something different on the next. Many of them are religious in nature, like a baptism, bat mitzvah/bar mitzvah, or ordination.
For secular ceremonies, there is swearing into the military, becoming a citizen, or taking an oath of office.
Weddings can be both religious and civil.
While they are common events, individuals only get a few a lifetime. There is a reason coming-of-age and other ceremonies existed before recorded human history and continue into modernity. They tie us together as a community and mark a time and place in life as nothing else can.
When you become a college graduate—it’s a major demarcation in life. It changes how the world sees you and, many times, how you see yourself.
Because administrators, faculty, and staff attend one or two of these a year, they forget it is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
While graduates have been to and participated in other commencements, this is the only time in their life that they are going to get this degree on this day. It is the only time in their lives that this set of family and friends will gather to honor them for an accomplishment.
They’ve got one shot at the day. That’s it.
It can never be done again.
For most undergraduates, it is the last time they will ever wear a cap and gown.
Who Is It for?
If an anthropologist were to examine a commencement with fresh eyes, how would they describe it? Who are the most important people? Who gets attention? Who gets ignored? What are the symbols? Who are they for? What do they mean? Do people understand them?
For events, it is helpful to answer a few basic questions:
· Who is it for?
· What will attendees remember?
· How will we know if it was successful?
For commencement, all that seems straightforward. It’s not. It’s like a wedding; there are a lot of people to keep happy and various agendas happening all at once.
The alumni pitch? That’s not about the students—that’s about the school trying to get money. The honorary degree recipients speaking (have a short video if you must, it’s far more engaging)—that’s about the university. The president or chancellor giving a long address and then the commencement speaker giving a long address—that’s about them, not about the audience.
While commencement is ultimately about conferring degrees, it is still a communal event. Faculty must be meaningfully recognized for their contributions—the day would not be possible without them. They often feel like props, which is why so many don’t go.
In the same way, time should be spent recognizing the contributions of family and friends. Staff and administration should also be recognized.
People need to be reminded that they are celebrating with the degree recipients, not just for them. While the graduate did the heavy lifting, there were many hands involved.
What Will People Remember?
Not much.
No one remembers a commencement address. It’s ego to think so. It’s entertainment.
People will remember the commencement speaker, but only if they are famous.
Participants and attendees will remember how they felt.
The rest is a blur of logistics, navigating family issues, who showed up and who didn’t, anticipating a name being called, and what graduation means.
You can go to a religious service and generally tell when it’s being done out of rote memory—or an annual requirement—or if people have put thought into it. All the “stuff” might be the same, but the energy and intention are entirely different. It can all feel like an unnecessarily elaborate performance done poorly.
It’s the same for a commencement.
The question is, how can you make an event that makes graduates and as many people as part of this communal event know they are cared for and walk away feeling honored, celebrated, and feeling good?
Some Ideas to Make Commencements Better
Ask Commencement Organizers
They are the people doing the heavy lifting and planning; they will have ideas on how to make the day better.
Steal Best Practices
Because campus leaders are busy with their own commencements, they never get to see how other people do it. Ask around.
When I was a regent for the University of Colorado System, I went to all four campus commencements and each had something special that the other campuses didn’t know about. I suggested the commencement leaders get together—and they shared and implemented the best ideas.
One of which was faculty lining up on both sides, where the students marched in and applauded as they went by. Everyone loved it—faculty and students.
Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater
While I’m not opposed to confetti cannons and smoke machines at the end of commencement, I do think we should honor the traditions that we have inherited.
We don’t need to turn commencement into a WWE event spectacle; we need to do our tradition better.
Have Faculty Involved in Planning
Specifically, I’m talking about faculty from the theater, psychology, and anthropology departments. Their expertise will help see things that others miss on how to make commencement better.
I would also include folks from athletics, as they know how to get people in and out of an arena effectively. And, if we are honest, they know how to put on a good show.
Quite frankly, I’d have the theater department run the whole thing—but they probably don’t want the job.
PARKING-PARKING-PARKING!!!!!
The feeling of commencement starts at the parking lot. Get more police/traffic directors/volunteers than you think you need to make this as easy as possible. Getting stuck in traffic on the way in or the way out can ruin a day.
You will get no credit for doing it well, but people will be mad if it is done poorly.
Combined with that, don’t issue any parking tickets or tow people during commencement or a few hours after. Trust me, this actually happens. Talk about a bad look and losing potential donors.
Tell the People What they Are Participating In
Before the ceremony starts, have someone with excellent stage presence go to the podium and tell the audience what all the symbols mean, why they are important, and why the tradition carries on. It’s like getting a libretto before an opera.
While people have attended many commencements, most don’t know much about the ceremony.
While many campuses print what the robes, hats, flags, university mace, president’s chain, colors, and other things mean— most people don’t read that until degrees are handed out. By then, it’s too late.
I would also have the narrator tell the audience how important it is that they came. How honored you are to have them there. That individual can cue the band to start the music and let the commencement begin.
Get a Good Commencement Grand Marshal
Please. I beg you. Don’t give this as a faculty award. Don’t rotate it. Find a person with a great stage presence and let them do it as long as they want. Let them be the person that keeps the entire event flowing.
That person sets the tone and energy for the entire event. If that person is lukewarm, you are doomed.
Get Grounded
When things become routine, we need reminders of why they are important.
I’m an old theater guy, and we had a practice called this getting centered. That’s where you calm yourself and focus, getting rid of other distractions. It’s also referred to as getting grounded or getting present.
In the robbing room for the faculty and the platform party, I think leaders should take a serious moment to remind everyone that this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for the graduates and their families and friends. Their contribution, no matter what it was, made this day possible. Have them be present to that.
Bring Energy
This one shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. The academics and guests are staid in their speeches and presentations, but when students are allowed to address their fellow graduates their excitement, energy, and joy go off like fireworks.
Those not graduating might not have the same enthusiasm, but having more oomph on the platform would be most welcome. Yes, it is a solemn ceremony, but it doesn’t have to feel like a wake.
Why do we have more joy for someone catching a football than for students graduating?
Practice
If a person has a speaking role, no matter how many times they may have done it or how small it may be, practice. Out loud. More than once.
I’ve heard too many highly educated people significantly trip over their part because they couldn’t bother to prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime event with thousands of people watching. Hubris.
How are you supposed to have energy or presence if you don’t know the words in front of you?
Short Remarks, Limit Speakers
As noted above, there should be one main commencement address. Keep it to 10-12 minutes. (Speakers are horrible about honoring this, but do your best.)
Chancellor/president gets five minutes.
Everyone else, two or three.
Can a video or someone that reads well cover the ground rather than having more people speak?
Have a Live Band
Recorded music for this? Come on.
Honor All
As I mentioned above, it is essential to honor everyone there and acknowledge that the day would not be possible without them.
Spending a few minutes on this, and shortening speeches, is well worth it.
I’ve seen chancellors ask all the graduates to stand and find their family and friends in the audience and thank them for their support.
Having a student leader at the podium ask all the faculty to rise and be recognized and thanked for their dedication, support, and mentorship is excellent.
End Strong
Let the throwing of the mortarboards be the end. Don’t have another five minutes after that. It’s so anticlimactic.
“We Got Through Another One.”
I heard that phrase at the end of a commencement. It was jarring as it was familiar.
Let’s get rid of it.
To that end, how will you know you didn’t just get through another one? How will you know your commencement was successful?
Doing the hard work to answer that question before planning starts will help make future commencements better for everyone.
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.