Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU to Hold Unified Commencement Ceremony

GU to Hold Unified Commencement Ceremony

By Emily Nash Special to the Hoya

A unified undergraduate convocation will take place at the beginning of Senior Week this May, in what may become an annual Georgetown tradition.

The ceremony, which will be attended by graduating seniors and Georgetown faculty and staff, will include an academic procession, a major address by a speaker of national stature and addresses from a senior class member and University President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J.

This change reflects a combination of two forms of commencement ceremonies that have been used at Georgetown. Prior to 1987, all undergraduates attended a unified commencement ceremony on Copley lawn. Since then, the single ceremony has been replaced by individual diploma ceremonies for each school. Under the new plan, the individual ceremonies will be maintained, with the addition of a commencement convocation for all graduating students.

Main Campus Message Committee Chair John Glavin said the plan stems from a concern that students who have shared different residences, extracurricular activities and classes should also share a ceremony to culminate their four-year experience at Georgetown.

“The division into exclusively school-based units in the most significant week of their Georgetown lives seems to distort the actual experience of attending Georgetown,” Glavin said, adding that the combined ceremony will help to offset that imbalance.

The only obstacle to the project appears to be the major construction for the new Southwest Quadrangle, which is scheduled to begin this February. By May, the large parking lot on lower campus, as well as the athletic fields, will be torn apart. Initially, the administration was looking into reinstating the tradition of a joint graduation. However, it would have been impossible to accomodate such a large volume of cars at one time. As it is, family and friends of the graduates will be unable to attend the convocation ceremony.

Still, Glavin insisted the experience of both students and their parents were considered in the decision process, which has involved administrators, faculty members and students, particularly those on the Senior Class Committee.

While parents will be able to attend the individual school ceremonies, the construction project makes it too difficult for added guests to attend the unified ceremony, Glavin said.

“We all recognize the importance of moving ahead with building facilities that Georgetown needs for the next century and share a mutual recognition that these changes are for the growth of a school we love and to whose future we are all committed,” Glavin said.

Though unsure whether commencement will be organized this way in the future, Glavin said the ceremony will be a time for graduates to come together with faculty and friends, the people who have played pivotal roles in each student’s Georgetown experience.

Students have been receptive to the idea.

“I think that it’s a good idea for the class to have a unified event at the beginning of Senior Week with all their friends regardless of school. We all came in to Georgetown together and it would be a shame for us to leave separately,” said Chanda Yarborough (SFS ’01), a member of the Executive Board of the Senior Class Committee.

Approval to continue planning the unified convocation was secured from O’Donovan and University Provost Dorothy Brown on Nov. 2, though detailed plans have not been set, Glavin said.

“I believe we will produce an event that students will remember and treasure among the highlights of their Georgetown years,” he said, emphasizing his hope that some version of a unified event will remain part of the graduation schedule in the future.

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