I represent a portion of the senior class that shares a very unpopular opinion: I do not want to graduate on the Quad on main campus.
Though I understand the people who want to graduate on the Quad, here is why graduating in the TD Bank Sports Center will be a lot better.
I understand that a lot of seniors feel like the university is breaking the promise we were given during our freshman induction ceremony on the Quad that we would get to graduate on the Quad. But remembering that ceremony, it isn’t that promise that comes to mind. I remember how sweaty we all were, how we all just wanted it to be over. If we graduated on the Quad, we might feel all those things all over again. But graduation should be a more enjoyable experience.
The TD Bank Sports Center can accommodate more people.
Though I’m not one of the people who has a huge, close-knit family, I know a lot of people who do. That being said, the TD Bank Sports Center—according to administration—is better equipped than the Quad to fit more family and friends.
It will be easier for relatives and friends to actually see you when you’re graduating.
Sitting on the Quad and walking across the steps of the Arnold Bernhard Library might be your current dream, but the ways the chairs are arranged on the Quad, your family might struggle to see you cross that threshold into your future. But in the TD Bank Sports Center, the way the seating works makes it so that every person you bring as a guest to graduation sees you walk up, shake some hands and graduate.
Plus, you won’t be sweating if the weather is outrageously warm, sunny or rainy.
As someone who had her high school graduation outside on a hot, sticky day in June, I can easily say that I always dreaded my college graduation being outside. Now that the graduation location has been moved, you can sit in a cool arena and your family and friends can get photos of you that don’t capture the sweat on your face, but the joy.
As for that petition to have graduation moved to the Quad that has been circling the campuses and talked about in the Quinnipiac Facebook groups… I just don’t see the point. I understand you’re all upset, but realistically I don’t see the university going back on its decision to relocate graduation.
Beyond just the petition, I’ve seen people suggesting to actually protest graduation. But before you do that, I implore you to put yourself in your parent’s shoes.
Most of your parents have patiently stood by your side for four years—hearing about those tests you did well on and those you failed, hearing that you haven’t slept in 28 hours because you’ve been working so hard. Imagine them hearing you say that they won’t see you at graduation because you’re going to protest it, just because it isn’t in the location that you wanted it to be.
The Rolling Stones said it best: you can’t always get what you want. So embrace graduation in the TD Bank Sports Center. Change is good. Let’s make this a new tradition—one that starts with us.
Check out the letter to the editor in response to this piece.
