On a hot August day in 2012, I sat in a black robe on the Quad in front of the library, surrounded by my new classmates, as we were inducted together as official members of Quinnipiac University.

Since that day almost three years ago, my classmates and I have been working hard toward graduation, with the goal of one day walking across those library steps, in front of that iconic clock tower and receiving our diplomas.

I’m sure that university officials have their reasons for wanting to move the 2016 commencement ceremony to the TD Bank Sports Center, but they have a bigger reason to keep it on the Quad: it’s what the students want.

Since we received that email, informing us of the change of venue, I have heard countless classmates expressing their disappointment and anger about it. Our lives here revolve around the Quad. Our classrooms surround it, our favorite hiking spot overlooks it and our favorite Instagram picture is the centerpiece of it all.

The Sports Center, while a beautiful facility for our hockey and basketball teams, isn’t the place for our graduation. I don’t think anyone wants to sit in that dingy lighting, surrounded by all that cement.

Basically it comes down to this: we love the Quad, we pay thousands and thousands of dollars to be able to walk across it everyday, and we want to graduate on it. We started our journey on that incredibly green grass, and we should be able to finish it there too.