Admin and SU Continue Talks on Commencement

The Student Union says it is locked in discussions with university administration over reported changes to commencement ceremonies this academic year.

Commencement is traditionally held in February and June of every academic year, but the SU believes that administration wants to change the format and schedule of commencement since 2019 is the university’s centennial.

“The administration proposed the canceling of the fall commencement but, after discussing it further, they proposed that it would be [by individual school] in fall, and since spring is the centennial, then there would be a big celebration,” Menna Emara, Vice President of the Student Union told The Caravan.

This current proposal suggests that every individual school would schedule its own commencement ceremony.

The SU announced on its Facebook  page last week that it had rejected the proposal and reached an agreement with administration to have a fall 2018 commencement. “We however, disagreed on the scale of the celebration,” the announcement added.

“We already raised points like military services and travel to the administration. They didn’t have these points in consideration at first but after discussing it, the administration and us [the SU] are thinking of alternatives,” said Emara.

In the meantime, the SU has called on the student body for feedback and comments about the proposed changes

Vice President for Student Life Deena Boraie told The Caravan that discussions were indeed ongoing.

“I have shared all of these documents [the SU’s proposals and student surveys] with my colleagues in the the administration. Right now we’re working on all possible scenarios and as soon as we all agree on the way forward, we will let everyone know,” said Boraie.

Emara said that the SU and administration are “are trying to rush the final decision as much as possible since graduates of this fall need to know where they stand”.

Many students have said they are upset by the proposed changes.

“It does not make any sense to me,” said Integrated Marketing Communications Graduating Senior Dalia Omran.

“I don’t know why the university would make such a decision – maybe for financial reasons as always,” said.

Some students have taken to social media to vent their concerns.

“They are making an outrageous proposal which no one would accept so that we would compromise and agree to a smaller ceremony which is what they wanted in the first place,” said Senior Farah Abdel Gawad on the SU Facebook page.

The discussions have garnered the attention of alumni and former SU members.

“Such a proposal was communicated to us during my term but, we firmly refused it,” said Mohamed Gadallah, SU president in 2017/2018.