On May 22, Hopkins conducted the University-wide Commencement ceremony to recognize the achievements of the Class of 2025 and celebrate the completion of their degree requirements. In interviews and responses to a survey conducted by The News-Letter, recent graduates commented on this year's ceremony.
Commencement is the largest-scale annual event hosted at Hopkins. According to a University spokesperson, the event’s logistics require a year-round effort from the administration, organizers and students.
“There’s a Commencement Office that works year-round to pull off the largest event that Hopkins hosts every year [... and] a committee of students that helps the Commencement Office get the word out about honorary degree nominations, when and how to register, and other details about the big day,” the spokesperson explained.
The graduating class at the ceremony, located on Homewood Field, consisted of nearly 1,450 undergraduates. The event began with President Ronald J. Daniels, who, in his address to the graduates, emphasized the importance of overcoming failure in future pursuits and urging oneself to “begin again.” Following Daniels’ address, commencement speaker Sal Khan, an American educator and founder of Khan Academy, asked students to “reflect deeply on what gives [them] meaning and invest in it,” attributing life’s purpose to finding meaning rather than material wealth.
Responses from a survey conducted by The News-Letter showed that overall enjoyment of the graduation ceremony this year was relatively positive. On a scale from “Terrible (1)” to “Excellent (10),” the most popular rating was 6.
Furthermore, the majority of students who completed the survey enjoyed the Commencement speaker’s speech, with 73% of students rating it between the range of “7” and “10” on a scale of “Generic (1)” to “Inspiring (10).”
While the selection of Khan as commencement speaker was generally received positively by students, some were unsatisfied or indifferent to his speech and aspects of the ceremony itself. For example, in an email to The News-Letter, alum Andrew Thampoe discussed his opinion on Khan’s speech, outlining the stand-out points of the address.
“I thought commencement was totally fine—nothing was particularly memorable about any of the speeches if I’m being perfectly honest,” Thampoe wrote. “[Sal Khan] definitely [rambled] too much about evolution, but I think his discussion on using AI as a tool rather than being scared of it/avoiding it was important for the crowd of parents and faculty who may be afraid of using these tools.”
Thampoe also discussed the impact of the poor weather on his experience at Commencement. He stated that while it was mildly disappointing that there was rain during an important event, he believes that the University made the correct decision in proceeding with the ceremony as planned.
“The weather wasn’t really a problem outside of the slight discomfort, but, frankly, I can’t imagine sunny and hot being any better — I enjoyed it for the most part because I was with my friends,” he wrote. “I think that it was definitely the right call to proceed as normal [... because] a significant amount of people would have had to reschedule flights and accommodations.”
Additionally, Senior Toast — an undergraduate champagne and dessert reception organized the night before Commencement — was canceled due to anticipated rain and heavy winds. Many students questioned the organizers’ decision to cancel Senior Toast and continue with the scheduled date for Commencement despite weather reports predicting rain.
Survey results demonstrated a clear split in opinions on this matter. When questioned about whether or not the administration made the right call to cancel Senior Toast, responses were mixed. While participants indicated a general divide, 30% of students rated it a “1” on a scale from “Definitely Not (1)” to “Absolutely (10).”
In the survey’s comments, one student expressed their dismay at the cancellation of the event, highlighting its inconvenience for many families.
“I think canceling the senior toast was a very poor call. Many families had come early specifically to go to the toast and celebrate their seniors. Many seniors themselves were incredibly excited,” they wrote. “[Hopkins] could’ve done [the toast] in the gym, Shriver, or in glass pavilion and made it a longer event so you could come and go so it wasn’t too many people in a room at once. There were truly so many more options.”
Nonetheless, the University spokesperson emphasized that cancelling Senior Toast was an appropriate decision, citing torrential winds and weather conditions that warranted cancellation.
“The Senior Toast is a weather-dependent event, as it takes place entirely outdoors. Unfortunately, with data from a weather consultant, Senior Toast was cancelled because of weather conditions [...] These conditions were not suitable for an outdoor dessert event,” they said.
Despite over a quarter of survey responses disapproving of Senior Toast’s cancellation, however, the majority were either indifferent or supportive of the administration’s decision (56.6% of students answered in the “5-10” range of the survey). In an email to The News-Letter, graduate Alex Shen shared his lack of enthusiasm for the events leading up to the Commencement ceremony.
“I felt like it was a pretty normal commencement this year. I was honestly glad that it wasn’t going to be super hot and wasn’t getting canceled,” Shen wrote. “There were so many grad events that I was too tired to go to Senior Toast if they had it anyway, so I didn’t really care.”
Shen also commented on his experience with the weather, as well as the University’s decision against rescheduling. While he appreciated that the event wasn’t canceled outright, he noted that the start of the ceremony was marked by uncomfortable weather.
The News-Letter’s survey results reveal that, when asked to rate their experience graduating in the rain, a majority of the students voted in the 1–5 range on a scale from “Never Again (1)” to “Core Memory (10).”
Shen also noted how the moment of walking the stage felt anticlimactic, the gesture of receiving a Hopkins-branded keychain underscoring the disconnect between student expectations and the University’s attempts at commemoration.
“It was pretty wet and gross for the first 20 minutes when we were waiting for everything to start, but then the rain stopped, so we didn't really care. Some of my friends in the audience didn't realize how cold it would be to sit in the rain for 3 hours, so they didn't bring jackets and told me it was miserable by the end of the ceremony,” Shen explained. “Walking the stage was cool, but it was pretty underwhelming. [...] We all got handed a Hopkins keychain after we walked and [...] I'd rather have gotten nothing than a random ass keychain for 4 years of school.”
While some students like Shen approached Commencement with a degree of emotional distance, others found the day to be deeply personal yet disappointing. For graduates dealing with grief or loss, the organization of the Commencement ceremony signaled some insensitivity from the University.
Bailey Liu, a graduate from Peabody and Homewood, shared his experience in his survey response to The News-Letter, describing not just the University’s lack of preparedness for the weather but also his dismay at the administration’s setback in honoring a deceased student.
“I had a friend who was supposed to walk at this commencement but passed away last year. I knew the commencement was going to be a trigger moment for me — the horrible weather certainly made it worse,” Liu wrote. “More importantly, they removed the flower laid on the seat that was supposed to represent the deceased students and took everything away right after the University Chaplain spoke.”
Liu went on to describe his efforts to restore the gesture of remembrance. After the flower and designated seat honoring the deceased student were cleared away, Liu explained that he repeatedly asked event staff to bring them back.
“I had to ask like 3 different commencement workers to restore the flower and the seat, so I could pay a tribute to my deceased friend,” Liu wrote. “I don’t think this university understands how hard this day is for those of us who have a friend who was supposed to walk but passed, and they did the absolute bare minimum to respect the deceased students at commencement.”
While University administration provided more information on how deceased students were recognized during the ceremony, they did not know why the flowers were moved.
“University Chaplain, Kathryn Schnurr, during the invocation recognized Zoe M. Underwood, a member of the Class of 2025, whose life ended tragically too soon,” the spokesperson wrote. “There were flowers on a chair to recognize Zoe, but there is no information at this time about why they were removed or by whom.”
Other attendees at the event shared similar sentiments that the University’s administration did not provide adequate accommodations for students and participants. Concerns ranged from logistical oversights to a failure to adapt the ceremony to unpredictable weather conditions.
Alum Derek Witzig and his family were particularly disappointed by the weather. Witzig recalls being initially confused as to when the ceremony was set to proceed as scheduled, given talks of a possible move to Friday, May 23 in an interview with The News-Letter.
“I had been tracking the weather for a week or so before, and I knew that it was going to rain on Thursday, but likely not on Friday. I kept telling everyone I knew that there was a rain date for Friday, and that it could be Thursday or Friday. But then they just went ahead with it,” Witzig explained.
Witzig also criticized the University’s decision to exclusively utilize ponchos, which covered graduation regalia, rather than rescheduling to the designated rain day.
“The main thing for me was that I had prepared nice clothes and everything. I had my cap, all my regalia, and trying to fit a poncho over that was a little bit unwieldy and difficult to manage,” Witzig said. “And no umbrellas [were] allowed. It’s [either] a poncho or no poncho, and you get soaked [if you go with the latter]. [...] It was really uncomfortable and kind of a burden to have it in the rain.”
Witzig went on to emphasize that families and friends were also affected by the weather, alongside students.
“My mom, my brother came a little bit later because of [the rain],” he said. “People with families who'd come from really far away, [...] have traveled a really long time to see their student go through this important milestone, just to basically be soaked and participate in the rain.”
Witzig also disapproved of the University’s lack of communication regarding their decision to host the ceremony in the rain. He explained that while some students and their families made travel plans for Thursday, his family and others scheduled their plans around the potential reschedule to Friday. Witzig suggested that an explanation from the University as to why the event was not moved would have improved his overall experience.
As a whole, graduates revealed mixed opinions on many aspects of the ceremony, as shown in their responses to a question about the University’s preparedness. While a few rated it at the extreme, many respondents clustered around the middle-to-positive end — most thought the event was generally well-prepared.
Witzig feels that the Class of 2025's college journey, especially at Johns Hopkins, has been especially memorable.
“This four year journey was incredible. [...] During our entire four years, [the global events we witnessed were] perfect examples for us to learn about the world. I feel like some of those events are challenging for people to deal with. We live in an incredibly interesting and fast paced time, and I feel like our four years were just things I haven't really seen before in my entire short life.”
Overall, the ceremony appears to have been a bittersweet event — Witzig described this in his interview with The News-Letter.
“Maybe this last rain was really just one of our last trials that will prepare us for anything to come,” Witzig explained. “There were a lot of great things that I'll remember from the day, but it would have been even better had it not been in the rain.”
Editors’ Note: This article has been edited to reflect Witzig's quote more accurately and completely.
