Columbia University cancels universitywide commencement ceremony after weeks of protests on campus over security concerns

NBC News ^ | 05/06/2024 | Antonia Hylton, Mirna Alsharif and Marlene Lenthang

[SeekAndFind]

Columbia will replace its universitywide commencement ceremony on May 15 with "smaller-scale, school-based celebrations," university officials announced Monday, after weeks of pro-Palestinian and counterprotests on campus.

The Ivy League school said the decision was made after discussions with student leaders. Security concerns were the main reason behind the decision, a university official told NBC News.

"Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families," the university said Monday. "They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers. As a result, we will focus our resources on those school ceremonies and on keeping them safe, respectful, and running smoothly."

As a result, students will be "honored individually alongside their peers" in the smaller ceremonies. "Class Days" and school ceremonies scheduled at the south lawn of the Morningside campus have also been relocated to Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex.

"These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community. Just as we are focused on making our graduation experience truly special, we continue to solicit student feedback and are looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony," university officials said.

"We are eager to all come together for our graduates and celebrate our fellow Columbians as they, and we, look ahead to the future."

Come May 15, graduation ceremonies for the journalism school, college of physicians and surgeons, Barnard College, and the school of arts will take place at different times at different locations, according to a schedule released by Columbia. Other school-based ceremonies will take place throughout next week, as well.

[high info voter]

Hurray...... just what Satan wants!! ...imho

[frank ballenger]

Mob veto.

The amounts like $90,000 for tuition are not going to result in the proud graduates having their once in a lifetime achievement of having parents and loved ones watch them graduate.

Hope some of them will turn against the woke agenda agents they usually support. Like the really outdated “a conservative is a liberal who just got mugged.”

[MeanWestTexan]

In a sane world, you are right.

I think many of them are natural Chamberlain types. They will seek to appease.

Or they get Stockholm syndrome and identify with the nazis

[Lurker]

“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families.”

They’re not even good liars.

L

[frank ballenger]

He has been getting his own way all over the place for a long time now.

Hillary and Biden never had a full blown exposure of their evil in public on national TV. Always denied and submerged or deleted. How many young girl sniffing videos of Biden are even on nightly news or even cell phone news that people watch? None. Just on conservative websites. Denied by Dem friends and relatives.

I saw an interview of a young man who took a job in college doing the document shredding for Hillary’s Rose Law firm records. They lied and said they were old enough to be destroyed but “I saw as I was putting the sheets into the shredder that these are the ones on the TV news that are under subpoena. I wanted to stop and tell someone but I really needed the part time job money to continue in school so I shut up. But I felt guilty about it.”
His story never went past conservative websites of the Federalist type.

One of the people advising for details to be used in The Exorcist was on a retrospective and he said he feared the widespread notion by the millions of viewers that Satan is an enormously powerful force pitted against a similar force for good in God. He said God is more powerful but people now believe the two sides are nearly equal.

[SamAdams76]

The terrorists win again.

But in this case, there's a silver lining.

I've been to several college commencement events over the years and few things are more excruciating and boring than sitting through one of those.

Speech after cliche-ridden speech by a seemingly endless procession of blustering public officials, faculty members, and occasionally a celebrity.

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life!"
"Follow your passions!"
"Make a Difference!"
"You are the future!"
"Your education is just beginning!"

Well they got that last one right, that's for sure.

Then you have thousands of students lining up for their two or three seconds on stage in which a diploma is thrust into their hands with a quick handshake - and off they go down the steps on the other side of the podium while loudspeakers blare name after name after name in rapid-fire sequence.

Horrible, horrible.