Our Voice

In the Back to School issue of The Colonnade, we promised to report to students not only what they wanted to hear, but also what they needed to know.
This week, we are holding true to that promise.
In a meeting that seemed so insignificant that we almost didn’t cover it, the Academic Governance Committee recently discussed the possibility changing our only graduation ceremony.
Under the proposed alterations students who have not completed their degree requirements prior to commencement will not be allowed to walk.
In past years, this might not have been such a big deal. If a student had to take a Maymester or summer course, they could at least walk in the December graduation. But with that option taken off the table, students would, if the proposal is approved, have to wait almost an entire year to walk across the stage.
This hardly seems fair.
Students who cannot complete their degree requirements before the summer semester should not be blacklisted. There are several reasons that a student would “fall behind” the normal track.
Some of these students just work at a slower pace or have had a more difficult time with their classes.
Academic struggles are enough to discourage students, but for the administration to throw it back in their face adds insult to injury.
The fact that these students stuck with their studies should be commended, not punished.
Other students fall behind because they miss their opportunity to take a course that is necessary to graduate. Under the current system, many programs offer upper level classes on a three semester cycle. So a student can go an entire year without an essential class. In order for this new system to be fair, departments would have to offer all classes required to graduate every academic year.
This will not happen.
Still other students are currently encouraged by their departments to take internships during the summer, after they have completed the rest of the course load.
We must note at this point that mass communication is one of these majors. So under this proposed system, only a small percentage of one of the schools biggest majors will walk in May.
Walking across the stage at graduation is the capstone of the college saga.  The act itself is almost laughable in it’s simplicity.  You stand at your name, walk forward, and are handed a sheet of paper.
That sheet of paper changes your life in many ways.  That walk to recieve that paper is a literal first step into a new world.
Should we have to pass that up because we are a few semester hours short of completing our degrees?

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 15 2006. Filed under Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry