Editorial
UWRF admin wants graduates to leave Grandma at home
February 20, 2024
After navigating a tumultuous fall semester and promises made by administrators to listen to the students on issues surrounding the campus, admin fails to keep those promises less than a week into this new semester. In an email obtained by the Student Voice (at the bottom of the article), Mesa Carlsen the University Event Coordinator explained the new rules and set up around Spring Commencement. Some changes being made are only 4 tickets per student and the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences will be paired with the College of Arts and Science to graduate together. The newly combined College of Education, Business, and Allied Health and Graduate students will be graduating together and commencement will be taking place in Page Arena. The email also stated, “these changes have been updated on the Commencement website and when students apply for graduation.”
This email was sent as an “update” to student organization leaders who help run commencement every year. After hearing the news, students were outraged with many thinking about boycotting the ceremony all together and others sending emails demanding a change. After seeing the backlash from students, administration decided to hold a closed meeting including the student leaders who received this email and reached a few compromises. These compromises include no longer requiring tickets but it is strongly suggested that students only bring four people to graduation, speeches are no longer going to be shortened, and student leaders from Student Government Association, Chancellor’s Student Ambassadors, and fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho will be on the commencement committee so this doesn’t happen again. As of February 15th there has been no official statement about these compromises from administration.
Many of the reasons for switching from Knowles Fieldhouse to Page Arena do not make sense. These reasons include “warm up-lighting in red tones and new facility equipment/surroundings/live stream will allow for a better viewing experience…more up-to-date, Falcon-feel to it, photography will be fantastic and will provide opportunities for future student recruitment, and 2000+ spectators in Page Arena results in changing the acoustics in a “positive” manner (bodies are eliminating hard surfaces which act as a transmission of sound). Acoustics will be far better than the experience in Knowles.” Many of these seem like brand-centered changes instead of student-centered as the positives came down to good vibes. UWRF is advertised as a student-centered organization, but what does it mean for students when you are robbing them of their own graduation?
Upon finding out the changes students were appalled by the four ticket limit that was going to be enforced. Students with more than two siblings would not be able to invite their entire direct family. This also means, current UWRF students would be unable to attend in order to support their friends. Many students graduating in the upcoming semesters are 2020 highschool seniors who didn’t get a graduation. For many of them this is their one and only chance to have this celebration. UWRF also has a large population of first-generation students whose extended family share pride in seeing a loved one be the first to graduate college and wouldn’t be able to attend. Sure, the pictures of graduates might be better but many students have expressed they would rather have their entire support system present and get their own pictures later given the option. Another reason stated that Page Arena will bring “a feeling of togetherness.” Nothing like having to pick who can and can't attend your graduation bringing a family and community together. I’m sure there will be no drama at all.
In the way that Page Arena will bring a “feeling of togetherness.” It also brings many practical concerns. The email states that Page Arena can fit around 2,924. This prediction does not account for attendees' comfort, unless they’re into strangers sitting on top of one another, but hey who are we to judge? people will basically be sitting on top of each other if the arena is full. Another large concern is the accessibility of Page Arena, or the lack thereof. Not only is that a safety concern but it’s yet another problem that shows just how inaccessible UWRF is. Having Spring Commencement on the football field was suggested but the bleachers are not up to code.
Other reasons include saving time on set up, take down, and production as well as saving money on chairs. By not renting chairs the university will supposedly be saving around $4,000 a semester. It feels dystopian that the university is trying to find budget cuts for the celebration of one of the biggest accomplishments someone can achieve. Is saving $4,000 which is less than the average UWRF student pays in tuition a semester worth all of the backlash? Additionally student workers don’t get paid enough as it is and many of those students might even depend on set up time for commencement to pay rent. It is never directly said in the email but the university would also be saving money by not having to pay their student employees, since they are not working as long.
Not only do these decisions made about commencement changes leave a bad impression on current students but they affect alumni and potential students' opinions of UWRF. Commencement is one of the few if not only times UWRF is able to make any impression on students' support systems, so it better be a good one. Many students come from legacy families whose parents also graduated from UWRF, if they believe their child had a poor graduation they could choose to stop donating. Any students with younger siblings or any family members deciding on colleges could decide not to attend because graduation felt insincere. This email being sent as an “update” to only three students without any input from any other students on their own graduation shows a clear lack of transparency and feels insulting to graduates who have dedicated the last four or more years to the institution to get a budget cut celebration.
------ This is the email that was sent out to the select group of students -----
Hello X, X, and X,
I am reaching out to each of you hoping you will share updates regarding Commencement with your organizations.
The realignment of the four colleges to three has changed the structure of Commencement beginning Spring 2024:
• 9:00am Ceremony (CAFES, CAS)
• 1:00pm Ceremony (CEBAH, Graduate Students)
Commencement has been moved to Page Arena for the Spring ceremony. We are very excited about the change of location for so many reasons-
- Page is a bright, fresh opportunity with great sightlines for each attendee due to the stadium seating.
- Photography will be fantastic and will provide opportunities for future student recruitment. Easier for photographer to zoom in to capture close ups having the height of bleachers/surrounding areas to stand.
- The space will give a feeling of togetherness over the long, flat seating we had in Knowles.
- Digital Display boards, warm up-lighting in red tones and new facility equipment/surroundings/live stream will allow for a better viewing experience…more up-to-date, Falcon-feel to it.
- The setup time in Knowles took an entire week, taking the UC and Knowles offline from a production’s standpoint. Page will take 2-3 days which means the Falcon Center can be used more freely for sporting events and members. Since it took UWRF Productions a week to set up in Knowles, the University Center was taken offline for events during that week, this will also open the UC to events, internally or by external partners.
- Tear down of the event would take a few hours rather than a few days and the cost of Productions labor would be far less 7) 2000+ spectators in Page Arena results in changing the acoustics in a “positive” manner (bodies are eliminating hard surfaces which act as a transmission of sound). Acoustics will be far better than the experience in Knowles.
We will have 600 chairs on the floor for graduating students, faculty/staff who are there to support students and guests with accessibility issues. By renting 600 chairs rather than the 2,800 I rented last Spring, we will save almost $4,000 a semester.
Page Arena can accommodate for 2,004 guests when three sides of the bleachers are down, 400-500 in the upper deck walking space, and 600 chairs on the floor. We will have space for around 2,924 people. At the Fall ceremony we had seats for 2,500, so Page will have more total seating than we had in December. We will need to ticket attendees to ensure there is enough space, especially since the morning ceremony is so large. There will be overflow seating in Hunt Arena with the ceremony casted on the digital screen. All students will be asked to bring no more than 4 guests to the ceremony, unless it is understood that additional attendees will be in Hunt Arena.
We will be trimming down the length of speeches (2 speakers at ceremonies: keynote and student). Keynote will be given about 2 minutes to speak; student will have 5 minutes. The alumni president will say a few words at the close, but his speech will also be trimmed down to about a minute. As diplomas are awarded, a “rapid-fire” process will be utilized where graduates will be coming up on stage from both the right and left sides with two active readers on each side reading names. This will allow for a much more efficient process of awarding diplomas and cut down on the overall time. The chancellor will hand the diploma to the student and pose for a photo.
We feel all of these revisions will allow for an improved experience for all graduates and spectators. These changes have been updated on the Commencement website and when students apply for graduation, they will receive an email with important information pertaining to the ceremony, what to expect, possible ticket information, etc.
Thank you for sharing this information with your organizations. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.
Looking forward to the best Commencement UWRF has ever had!
Mesa