Saint Xavier University will no longer hold midyear commencement ceremonies beginning in 2014, and instead will only be held at the end of the spring term.
Ryan Cleary, the Chair of Commencement, stated, “This change was brought on to improve the commencement ceremony for students, staff, faculty, and family.” This change was not made over night, and was instead a yearlong process that committee members went through.
It is not the goal of this implementation to take away from Saint Xavier University students, but to enhance the ceremony as much as possible. While there will be a small number of students that are upset, Cleary explains that, “We’re doing this for the majority of the students here at Saint Xavier.”
A part of this new phase in commencement ceremonies involves the university mimicking bigger schools who often hold ceremonies for each individual school, i.e. liberal arts and sciences and business, which offers a much more intimate setting for students, faculty, and family. This means that there will now be three separate commencement ceremonies divided into two schools, two schools, and one school with one ceremony occurring on Friday and the other two ceremonies happening on Saturday.
It is important to make sure that everyone understands the distinction between graduation and commencement. Graduating can occur at the end of any of the three terms, and as soon as all of an individual’s credits and requirements have been met, such as all their bills paid, they have officially graduated and his or her degree will be mailed to him or her as soon as possible. The commencement ceremony is what Cleary describes as the party to celebrate graduating.
For those who will be graduating in December and do not want to miss out on the celebration though will be able to come back that following spring to participate in the commencement ceremony.
In fact, Saint Xavier University will keep track of who is eligible and then begin communication with those graduated students by sending out all the information regarding the ceremony and their choice to participate.
When this was information was given to Chioma Okere, a current nursing student with junior standing who should be graduating next December 2014, “It seems to work out for everyone, and I think it will be nice that December graduates will be able to participate in a ceremony with a bigger class.”
Some may be wondering what this means for students who will officially graduate at the end of the summer term who would then have to wait a whole year to be part of a commencement ceremony.
However, this has been taken into consideration as well and if a student has six credits or less that need to be completed before the can fully graduate then he or she can participate in the commencement ceremony that spring, and then complete their credits that coming summer or fall terms.
For students who are upset with the end of midyear commencements, Cleary recommends, “Take a look at your class load to see if you qualify for the six credit hours or less exception.” He also exlains that one of the positives to the implementation of this new commencement ceremony structure is that all students should be able to receive an extra ticket resulting in being able to have five guests instead of four.
If a person is looking for more information regarding commencement ceremonies students can go to sxu.edu and search commencement, which will give you the link for the commencement page.
Catlyn Hicks
Senior News Editor