Five Spring Commencement Events Set for June 20
By: Mariam Salah
@MaryamFSalah
This spring’s commencement will be comprised of not one, but rather five different ceremonies all to be held on Thursday, June 20, according to Vice-President of Student Life Deena Boraie and the Student Union (SU).
“We want to have the school-based commencements in parallel. The two largest schools, School of Sciences and Engineering and School of Business will be in ARTOC [Sports Court]. The smaller schools will be in Bassily,” said Vice President of Student Life Deena Boraie.
Boraie added that the schedules have not yet been finalized; however, two commencement ceremonies will run in parallel, followed by the other two commencement ceremonies.
After the four school-based commencements are over, there will be a bigger university-wide event, where the ceremonial traditions, such as turning the tassel and the president’s speech, will take place.
The decision to change AUC’s traditional approach to commencement was made on October 9, 2018 when Boraie and Provost Ehab Abdel Rahman sent an email informing the AUC community about the new school-based commencement format.
This format went into effect for the Fall 2019 commencement on January 28 and 29, but some modifications have been made for the Spring 2019 commencement.
“It will be a day full of festivities. They do that in the United States. There will be entertainment and food. This could be for the earlier ceremonies that are waiting for the big commencement at the end. But, the following commencement members could also come early to join in on the festivities,” said Boraie.
The new commencement format may be novel to some students, but the Student Union (SU) is also participating to try and make it better.
“The university is depending on us for organizing a lot of things. We will organize social events in the middle, entertainment, a seating area, food and so on, until the final big ceremony that will include all the ceremonial matters,” said Student Union Political and Public Relations Chairperson, Youssef Abdel Kader.
Abdel Kader told The Caravan that initial discussions looked at hosting an entire week of festivities. However, the SU objected and changed it to one day only.
Students have had mixed reactions to the changes. Those who graduated on January 28 and 29 were largely pleased with the organization and more familial atmosphere of school-based commencement ceremonies.
But Theater and Film Club President and Business Marketing Senior Youssef Medhat says he sees no valid reason for changing the ‘old system’.
“The collective commencement had its own spirit. I am a Business student and all my friends are in SSE and what the new format did was destroy the overall one-time experience of the students’ last educational graduation,” he told The Caravan.
Construction Engineering Graduating senior Joe Said shrugged his shoulders when asked about the new commencement format.
“I think it’s kind of exhausting if I’m trying to catch them [ceremonies] all, but it doesn’t really matter to me as much as people make it out to be, I’ll find my friends after,” said Said.
In the meantime, the Office of Student Life is working to accommodate overseas families who have to travel to Cairo for the commencement ceremonies.
Boraie said that the university is trying to secure discounts with hotels nearby so that the costs on family members can be decreased.
Political Science and Multimedia Journalism graduating senior Serage Amatory, however, sees a different and easier solution, especially for students who are on scholarships or receiving financial assistance: Use the student dorms to house families.
“My parents are coming from Lebanon and it’s going to be the summer so faculty dorms won’t be as occupied. I wonder why the university wouldn’t give rooms to parents,” Amatory said.
