The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Commentary

About 16,000 undergraduates currently attend the University of Connecticut. Some of those students choose to graduate in December, others in May. But, due to high costs, UConn has cancelled all future winter commencements.

Due to the immense number of students graduating, UConn has previously held December graduations. This enabled students to invite more friends and family members while making the ceremony a little more personal - as personal as hordes can get, at least.

According to the Hartford Courant, "student enrollment has grown by 45 percent over the past 13 years," indicating that winter commencements were not gratuitous at all. They were, in fact, necessities, and their future absence is a cause for concern.

The ceremony typically cost around $50,000. In a time of budget cuts and recessions, the circumstances didn't favor for the pomp and circumstance, apparently.

Yet the cancellations will be a burden for those who hope to walk as soon as they complete their schooling, and will prove especially troublesome for those who want to leave the state soon after they graduate.

In 2007, December graduation was cancelled due to a snow and ice storm, a situation no one could prevent. However, cost is something that can be managed. Surely there would have been better measures to take than outright cancellation.

Currently, students who plan to graduate at the end of the next fall semester will have to come back in May, long after the exhilaration and excitement of graduation has died down. They will then have to parade in front of thousands of other students and parents as people strain to see them accept their diplomas. The prospect sounds less than pleasing. Graduation is a right of passage and a significant experience in many students' lives, but the students graduating in May, next year, will now have to share the limelight with those who completed their degrees months earlier. Future spring graduates may also have to surrender some of their guest tickets, to prevent overcrowding.Commencement shouldn't be short-changed because of the economy or budget cuts. A better solution would be to make the ceremony more affordable. Perhaps families can venture off-campus to get their own refreshments, so UConn doesn't have to front the money for post-graduation receptions.

The university should have decided on another, more cost-effective plan that would enable graduates in future years, both in the fall and the spring, to enjoy their graduations and feel genuinely recognized for all of their hard work.

The university has already worked to limit the number of students that can walk to get their diploma at the same time. Majors are to be split up by school or college so the parents may actually have a chance to see their glowing sons and daughters collect their diplomas after four or so years of labor. Canceling the December graduation was a step in the wrong direction, and the university should consider an alternative for next year.

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