Seniors and their families were disappointed by Columbia’s announcement on Monday that it was postponing the university-wide commencement ceremony for next week in favour of smaller celebrations. This announcement upset hopes that a turbulent academic year could be saved with the routine of a long-standing tradition.

At the Ivy League school’s upper Manhattan campus, pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza marked the end of the senior class’s academic year. There were numerous arrests and worries about safety due to a tent encampment on the lawn and the occupation of Hamilton Hall, an administration building.

“It’s been difficult; I believe it’s been discouraging,” stated Alexis Ishmael, a senior who is about to graduate. “Student morale is really poor. It’s merely depressing.”

According to Ishmael, she and her parents had to “make their peace” with the possibility that delicate security concerns may prevent the customary Columbia commencement ceremony, which has been held since the school’s founding in 1758 under the name King’s College.

She did, however, express optimism. She reminded her of another Columbia commencement nine years prior that made news when a senior left with a mattress in tow in order to raise awareness of sexual assault on college campuses.

Speaking about the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, when students had to deal with mask regulations, virtual learning, health issues, and now “leaving at a hard time,” Ishmael remarked, “I think we are going to be remembered as a really interesting class at Columbia. Came in at a hard time.”

Officials from the university stated that they did not wish to completely cancel graduation ceremonies, adding that each Columbia school already has a minor graduation in addition to the major ceremony when degrees are formally awarded by the school president. To accommodate the 15,000 graduates, the university had scheduled two ceremonies for May 15—one in the morning and one in the evening.In the smaller events, kids will be “honoured individually alongside their peers” instead. The campus’s south lawn was the location of “Class Days” and school ceremonies, but they were relocated to an athletics complex.

For our community, the last several weeks have been extremely trying. We’re working hard to make graduation a genuinely unique experience, but we’re also asking students for their opinions and considering holding a fun event on May 15 in place of the big, traditional ceremony, according to university representatives.

Senior at Barnard College Morgan Malcolm claimed that nine months earlier, her family purchased plane tickets from Colorado and California to attend the campus-wide event.

She noted that the statement on Monday seemed like a horrible case of déjà vu, given that her 2020 high school graduation was postponed due to Covid.

She remarked, “That it’s happening again just feels like tremendous bad luck,” and her family stated they planned to throw her a brunch when they get to New York at the very least. “It’s clear we’re not a priority for the university.”

The smaller commencement celebration for Barnard College, which is a member of the bigger Columbia University system, is scheduled for this month.

Reactions to the Gaza crisis have led to similar campus disturbances at other U.S. institutions, with protesters being arrested and requests that schools remove firms suspected of benefitting from the war from their endowments, causing them to reconsider their graduation ceremonies.

The major graduating event at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles was cancelled, the university said last month.

Parents find it difficult to accept the loss of a university-wide graduation, when thousands of graduates in pale blue robes would be encircled by the campus’s grand structures, according to Marla Feinstein, whose son is graduating from Columbia.

“It matters because a lot of people like myself are first-generation,” Feinstein stated. “You want the picturesque background, and then to have it taken away, it’s not the same.”

Because of the epidemic, her son and other members of the Class of 2024 started college without receiving their usual high school diplomas. She claimed that it felt unsatisfactory to watch one of their big life milestones be snatched away from them once more.

Feinstein declared, “This is what no one deserves.” “What they signed up for is the graduation they desire.

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