To the Editor:
On Monday, December 10, 2001, graduating students were informed through e-mail that RPI has adopted a new commencement policy. This policy states that only students who have completed their degree requirements are eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies, beginning with the upcoming 196th ceremony.
The new policy negatively influences both undergraduate and graduate students. Because the graduating students were notified just recently in December, there has not been enough time for students to make plans accordingly. Speaking from a graduate student point of view, graduate students seem to be the most affected party. Scholarly research in graduate studies, especially in PhD programs, requires time flexibility. Graduate research tends to have its own time logic determined by the nature of research, unlike undergraduate studies that follow a clear-cut schedule determined by their curriculum. Hence the completion of research (and the following thesis defense) does not always coincide with the commencement deadline, given the flexible nature of research that is partly due to unforeseen circumstances. I believe that students who have advanced adequately in their degree program have the right mindset to attend the graduation ceremony and should have the right to do so. It is unlikely that any student who has not advanced enough towards the completion of his/her degree will enjoy the unique atmosphere of the graduation ceremony and make an attempt to attend. Graduate students represent RPI in conferences and publi-cations, enhancing RPI’s reputation. They deserve the right to participate in the ceremony before they leave RPI.
However, the new policy pre-vents graduate students who are reasonably close to completing their degrees but miss the commence-ment deadline to participate in the very much desired graduation ceremony, which is an important symbolic honoring of students’ significant accomplishments. The situation is especially disap-pointing for international graduate students who make up a significant portion of the graduate student body at RPI. While students who permanently reside in the U.S. can technically choose to attend the ceremony in the coming year (which is still a burden for them given travel costs and time concerns), this is virtually impos-sible for international students who plan (or, due to immigration matters, are obliged) to leave the U.S. upon the completion of their programs. There is no need to mention that the new policy has also disap-pointed our families who have made plans to attend the graduation ceremony and to share that special day with us. This type of policy would only be com-prehensible in a university that offers several ceremonies at different times of the year to accommodate its students’ needs. RPI holds only one ceremony a year. Although this policy influ-ences students, it was apparently decided upon without any input from students. Further-more, the information regarding the policy decision was only sent to students who are graduating this year, leaving the future classes unin-formed.
If you are an undergraduate or graduate student who is negatively influenced by the commencement policy and would like to get your voice heard, please e-mail dulges@rpi.edu with a subject line “petition” to sign the petition opposing the policy.
Seval Dulgeroglu
STSS ’02
