Class of 2016 to graduate off-campus

By Jacqui Neber News & Features Editor

The 2016 Johns Hopkins University commencement ceremony has been moved from its traditional Homewood Field setting to Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena. The change has incited mixed responses from Hopkins students.

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert C. Lieberman explained why graduation organizers and University officials decided to move the ceremony, and the process through which they reached a decision.

“We spent a good deal of time considering, weighing pros and cons, considering all of our options. So it was a very thoughtfully, carefully considered decision where we tried to bring in stakeholders and bring in constituencies who were going to be affected,” Lieberman said. “I think we got to a point where everyone was comfortable and supportive of the decision that we made.”

Provost Lieberman said transporting students to and from Royal Farms Arena was a possibility.

“I think we’re still working out all the logistics of how we’re going to move people from here to there, where will there be parking,” he said.

Some of the benefits of moving graduation to the arena include easy accommodation of students and parents, Lieberman said. The Provost explained he is confident the venue will provide the optimal graduation experience for the Hopkins community.

“The arena has a very large capacity. It can easily accommodate the entire crowd of graduates and parents and family members and well-wishers and faculty and staff and everyone who comes, and that’s what makes the ceremony such a great moment — that the entire community is together all in one place,” he said. “You can be absolutely confident we’ll have it all in place by the time we get to this year’s commencement.”

Seniors have traditionally participated in a reception on the Keyser Quadrangle after graduation, which includes stomping on the previously off-limits seal in Gilman Hall. However, even with the change in venue, the reception will not be moved.

“Now that we’re moving the ceremony itself off-site, we’re going to make sure that there’s a really nice fun exciting celebration here at Homewood,” Lieberman said. “Because we know that especially for undergraduates, their connection to the University is very much connected to being at this campus. We don’t want to lose that. We really have to balance the lovely meaningful location with the risk of not being able to have that capstone ceremony that we want everyone to have.”

Student Government Association (SGA) Executive President Jason Plush elaborated on Lieberman’s explanation. Plush said that graduation was moved primarily for safety and weather reasons. In the past, extreme weather has led to at least one person being hospitalized for heat exhaustion or dehydration. These dangers led officials to consider moving the ceremony to a climate-controlled venue.

“The main purpose for moving graduation downtown to the Royal Farms Arena is to ensure that people are in a safe, air-conditioned, climate-controlled atmosphere. Additionally, Homewood Field’s capacity put a limit on the number of people who could attend the commencement ceremony,” Plush wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Royal Farms Arena has a capacity of over 14,000 people, making space a non-issue and allowing graduates to invite as many family and friends as they would like.”

Plush expressed a neutral view on the venue change, saying he could see both negative and positive outcomes of the switch. He noted one important negative aspect of the change.

“The main negative aspect of the change is that the Class of 2016 will not be able to finish our tenure as Hopkins students on the Homewood campus. Homewood has been my home for over three years now,” Plush wrote.

Acknowledging the benefits, Plush said that this change in venue will allow for the creation of new traditions at Hopkins.

“It is an opportunity for the Class of 2016 to create a brand new tradition with Senior Week and the Commencement Ceremony,” he wrote.

Plush said the only student group consulted by the administration about this decision, to his knowledge, was the SGA. He described the process of working with the administration on graduation changes.

“[SGA Executive Vice President] Jack Bartholet has been serving on the Commencement Working Committee over the summer and has a meeting with the group this week,” Plush wrote. “We were consulted about the changes and weighed in with our input on the matter. We recognized both benefits and costs with the change, but also recognized that the main benefits outweighed the overall costs.”

Senior Nikita Singh also understood the reasons behind the changes made to the ceremony.

“Logistically and comfort-wise, it makes sense. But I also wish it was on Hopkins turf, just for the symbolic gesture,” Singh wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Senior Cathy Gong acknowledged that weather conditions on Homewood Field can present safety concerns to students and parents.

“I read the email that they sent out, and it said they were concerned about the weather because last year it rained, or it’s too hot, and that can be uncomfortable for both students and parents,” Gong said.

Gong explained that at first she was sad about the change, since graduating on campus is important both to her and to the parents of Hopkins students.

Senior Nisu Patel expressed optimism regarding the ceremony’s venue change. He said it would be beneficial for students and parents because instead of focusing on the weather, everybody present would be able to focus on the ceremony.

“I actually like it,” Patel said. “Parents have traveled a long way, especially for international students, and I don’t think it’s fair for them or graduating students to have to sit through sweltering weather or rain. It’s a better place for a ceremony because now everybody can focus on what [the ceremony] means, rather than ‘I’m so miserable.’”