Issue date: 11/10/04 Section: Opinion

Barring an un-foreseen change by the University's Board of Trustees, undergraduate students will stroll into the Fleet Boston Pavilion on commencement day without their graduate student counterparts.

It is not every day that the administrators at this university make us happy. It's not even really directly their fault. They are all well-intentioned, truly nice and generous people.

However, through some cosmic imbalance, or more specifically, through the positions they hold, we as students are forever pinned against them. Whether it is a complaint regarding the obnoxiously high tuition prices or having to take a class that scholastically holds no purpose, like Science 301.

Every once in a while, the folks up on the 25th floor of One Beacon know how to make us smile. President David J. Sargent announced that the Board of Trustees will vote Wednesday Nov. 10 to change the commencement plans. It almost goes without saying that the Board will take Sargent's recommendation and pass the measure. For the past two years graduates have been given three tickets to the commencement ceremony and invited to enter a lottery for more tickets. Students were rightfully disappointed and agitated with the university. Many had to choose which family member was more important and give the others a website address where they could view the ceremony.

The ceremony itself was long and laborious. A noticeable amount of graduates got up and left after receiving their degrees even though there will still hundreds of people left to cross the stage.

The decision to separate the graduate and undergraduate ceremonies makes sense. Students will be allowed to invite more family members to the special event and graduates will have a special more intimate occasion to mark their special achievement. This idea is a true home run and the administration deserves recognition for implementing the change. Now, we just have to talk with Mother Nature and ask for her help on May 22.

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