FOR ALL CONCERNED: There will be a commencement meeting March 28th at 10am in the UPD conference room. Please attend if you would like to voice your concerns about the larger commencement ceremonies as well as their impact on the department ceremonies.

*UPDATE: It has been confirmed with Vice President Keith Humphrey's office that there will still be name reading at the larger commencement ceremonies, but some departments are choosing to hold department commencement ceremonies with name reading as well. Check with your specific department to find out if your department will be holding a department commencement ceremony.

If you are a Cal Poly graduating senior in spring of 2016, you may have received an email from your department regarding this spring's commencement ceremonies. This email regarding Spring 2016 Commencement announced changes to the previous order of graduation. In the email, it states that "this year there are no separate departmental ceremonies." Why is this important? This means there will no longer be a small ceremony for each major that allows family and friends the opportunity to gather close and celebrate with you as you walk across the stage for graduation. With the new changes (made without the total consent of us, the graduating seniors) our families and friends will be lost in a crowd of on-lookers in the stands, the lengthy ceremony will force graduates to sit and wait while hundreds or thousands more graduates from multiple colleges and majors walk across the stage, and we will be limited to only ten tickets per graduate for our families and friends. On a day meant to celebrate us, the graduating seniors and our hard-earned accomplishments, we should be the priority not the afterthought. Let's come together and voice our concerns to change 2016 Spring Commencement to once again include individual department ceremonies, in the best interest of every graduating senior.