In December, a letter was sent to graduating students informing them of changes in the commencement policy and of planned events for the ceremony. The changes place new restrictions on students who want to attend the commencement events and add a variety of campus-wide events to the May 18 ceremony.
After meetings between the president, the provost, Vice President Eddie Knowles, Registrar Sharon Kunkel, and Vice Provost Gary Gabriel, the new policy was drafted and a series of meetings were held with other administrators to make plans for a “landmark commencement that will be a community celebration of achievement,” said Gabriel.
More than before, the new policy, “defines commencement as a celebration of completion,” said Provost Bud Peterson. Only undergraduates who have completed all the requirements for graduation prior to commencement can participate in the ceremony. There will be an exception will be for co-op students, or others who participated in similar programs such as study abroad who can participate if they have one course remaining.
“There might be other situations that we might not know about at this point and will be reviewed by the office of the provost on case by case basis” said Interim Dean of Students Mark Smith.
Although this policy is applicable for the class of ’02, David Haviland, vice president for Institute Advancement said that the policy will be phased-in “to take full effect next year.”
“We want to avoid situations where students would participate in commencement before finishing their degrees” said Peterson.
However, both the registrar and the office of the provost received emails from students who were concerned that the new policy will exclude them unnecessarily.
“Here at Rensselaer we encourage students to participate in program co-op and other comparable programs, so we don’t want the students to be at a disadvantage because of that,” said Kunkel.
Grand Marshal Gil Valedez and President of the Union Ariana Twichell plan to hold discussions with Smith and others who created the policy to talk about its implications for the students. Since the decision was announced, Valadez and Twitchell have also recieved a significant amount of student feedback on the new policy.
“From the feedback that I have recieved there seems to a be a lot of confusion on the new policy. Our goal is to quell the confusion.” Valadez and Twitchell have already met with President Jackson in what Valadez described it as a “good meeting.”
“The policy will ultimately strenghten commencement, the old system that was in place was not exactly perfection. Although there is a new policy, some situations will require a case by case decision,” said Valadez.
Gabriele echoed Valadez saying their are situations like co-op and exchange programs in which the date of graduation would be extended. On the other hand this would not apply to dual majors and double degrees because “their is no expectation that an overloaded program such as these could be completed in four years,” said Gabriel
“The best advice to students is to get their applications in as early as possible so that we can make a timely decision,” concluded Gabriel.
The 2002 commencement ceremony will be held on campus at Harkness Field, a change from the Pepsi Arena in Albany where it was held for the past two years. Also, diplomas will be given on stage instead of after the ceremony.
A campus-wide picnic hosted by the president will take place on the main campus; 8,000 people are expected to attend, “to celebrate the accomplishment of our students with the community,” said Gabriel.
