“We Were Under The Impression That This Was Supposed To Be A Discussion”
posted by Keyona Smith | February 21, 2020 | In NewsGraduation will continue at Crown Coliseum, but the journey to return to what has been Fayetteville State University’s yearly graduation venue was a bit bumpier this academic year.
Late in the month of January, FSU organized a graduation town hall meeting to inform the graduating student body of proposed location changes to the Spring 2020 graduation commencement and to allow them the opportunity to voice their concerns.
The previous November, student government leadership were informed by Provost Pamela Jackson that the graduation ceremony would no longer take place at the usual site of the Crown Coliseum but instead would take place on campus in either the Felton J. Capel Arena or the Luther ‘Nick” Jeralds football stadium due to graduating students leaving the previous ceremonies early.
In between meetings, students began to hear different reasons as to what was developing around graduation. Some students believed it was because of the tear down preparations of the Crown Coliseum, others speculated that it was because of budget cuts.
However, during the graduation town hall meeting, at which roughly 50 students attended, senior student council and campus officials presented graduation proposals they collaboratively agreed upon to graduating seniors. New locations were presented by Provost Jackson, including the two on-campus sites previously mentioned and the new Segra Baseball stadium located downtown Fayetteville. In a further effort to control students departing the ceremony early and making an on-campus graduation as smooth as possible, there were proposals of starting earlier and shortening the program, moving the turning of tassels to the end of the program, and separating graduation ceremonies by schools with different times.
Following the proposal breakdown and presentation of possible benefits of an on-campus commencement, came the two-piece jab combination of ticket requirements/limitations and separate commencements stunning the audience of graduating seniors like an untrained boxer.
“We’re thinking each graduate would be given five tickets and then if there are any unclaimed tickets, those will be made available,” said Provost Jackson.
She also added that if for any reason your tickets do not accommodate your guests, there will be spillover rooms with closed circuit streaming of graduation. Rudolph Jones Student Center, movie theater, and Shaw auditorium, were some suggested locations for the spillover designations.
During the open forum, students presented many concerns and questions starting with senior volleyball player, Nakia McKinnie requesting an explanation on how the staggered ceremonies would work in the event that a senior or senior’s parent would want to share that moment with their classmate.
“My parents are emotionally invested in the other seniors, but they are in different majors. I know their parents as well as my parents are going to want to see me and their child walk,” McKinnie said.
Aimee Bell was the next senior to express that the ticket limitation was a staggering suggestion, while reiterating the desire that McKinnie presented: to graduate together. “It’s deeper than just watching them walk,” said Bell.
Provost Jackson responded with an invitation for teammates and other students who want to graduate with their friends to simply walk over to the next school and ceremony. She assured that the concern of having any loved ones turned away for the reason of not having a ticket was covered and worked out under the spillover room proposal. As part of her response, Jackson countered with her own and biggest concern, being the amount of seniors who left the commencement prematurely over the past few years and how abandoned it looked in comparison to the venue size.
After hearing Jackson’s stance and response towards the mentioned concerns, there was a growing crescendo of murmurs and you could almost feel the outbreak of disappointment amongst the group.
Senior Kania Davis spoke next and said in the few statements what was likely on every senior’s mind: “We were under the impression that this was supposed to be a discussion, that we were supposed to be heard out in order for something to be fixed,” said Davis. “Every time we present a concern, it seems like you guys have a rebuttal. It doesn’t seem like we’re being heard.”
Senior class President Kwamir Moses, said that his first thoughts when he heard the reasoning behind the new graduation suggestions were unsettling, similar to how the senior body felt on the night of January 22 as we departed the town hall. Many students felt that we were being punished for our colleagues’ actions.
Following the emotional bout, there were two more meetings between senior council and the student body to settle on possible proposals However such proposals were unnecessary. Students were informed on February 3 via university email that Interim Chancellor Valentine settled on allowing the commencement to remain, in fact, at Crown Coliseum “based on several factors, the most important being crowd control, safety, parking, and security.”
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