A fter a brief scare earlier in the week, senior global studies majors no longer need to worry that they will be snubbed come graduation day — nor should those following in their footsteps.
If nothing else, the mishap that put the department graduation ceremony in jeopardy should serve as a lesson to University administration moving forward.
Budget deficits are a legitimate concern, but $2,500 is a small price for the College of Arts of Sciences to pay for a ceremony honoring an entire department of students’ four years of hard work.
Graduation day comes each and every year and the ceremony’s $2,500 price-tag should be a permanent line-item in the global studies department’s budget.
During the frenzy that was putting the graduation ceremony on hold, some students offered to raise the cost of the ceremony themselves. While this was a valiant offer from a group of students that had just been subjected to a last minute injustice, there is no reason this department shouldn’t foot the bill the same way other departments do.
A student-paid for graduation ceremony would run the risk of delegitimizing the major and making the department look like little more than a charity case.
If the department wants to continue enticing students to enroll in their department, the least they could do is give them the recognition that they deserve.
