After pushback, University of Minnesota says it will allow graduates to walk across stage
MINNEAPOLIS – It's a moment of pride for parents and students. But not everyone is giving the University of Minnesota's new commencement plan a passing grade.
"It's a mess. We're definitely just excited to get our degrees and be done I think," senior Paige Van Zeeland said.
After stepping into a pandemic freshman year, the U's class of 2023 is eager to walk across the graduation stage this spring.
"I'm the first one to graduate in my family so it's a big deal for me," senior Bailey Bertram said. "I've worked really hard this past four years to graduate debt-free, so I'm just excited to get it all done."
This past fall, the U announced that renovations at 3M Arena at Mariucci would prevent graduation ceremonies from being held inside. Instead, they said the U would hold a combination ceremony outside at Huntington Bank Stadium, which would not allow all students to walk across the stage to receive their diploma.
"It's a lot of tuition money for what they were originally planning … show up, hear a speech and then go home," senior Olivia Szatkowski said.
After the original announcement, Szatkowski started an online petition calling for the U to allow graduates to walk. By the end of January, it had received almost 9,000 signatures.
On Tuesday, the U sent an email to students, faculty and staff with revised plans that included an opportunity for graduates to walk across the stage in pre-registered time slots at various locations around campus. It also said individual colleges would host their own celebratory events.
"Still kind of takes away from the fact that we don't get to walk across the stage that day, we get a time slot, it's kind of like the pandemic all over again," Bertram said.
Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T.A. Croson released this statement via email:
Our goal is to provide a variety of opportunities that will allow graduates to choose experiences with their guests that celebrate their accomplishments in ways most exciting and meaningful for them. To our graduates, we know how hard you have worked to earn your degree, especially through the dual pandemics of the past few years. We join you in looking forward to an exciting and meaningful celebration of your impressive accomplishments.
Szatkowski still wonders about weather contingency plans being that the large university-wide ceremony will be outside. She also questions why college graduations couldn't be held in other buildings on campus.
"I'm really proud of our class and just like our families for coming together and really making something happen, at least some kind of change, and that our actions were noted and they took action," she said.
"I think a lot of us definitely respect the university's decision to try to come up with an alternative. I guess it will just be interesting to see how it shakes out," Van Zeeland said.
Undergraduates and graduate students will have their own combined graduation ceremonies on different days. The U has set up a website dedicated to Commencement 2023 that will be updated as plans continue to form.
