Ohio State commencements move to Sunday afternoons

COLUMBUS – Since 1943, autumn, winter and spring quarter commencements at Ohio State have occurred on Friday morning at the end of finals week. Last year, the student governments proposed a change to this 60-year tradition to make it more convenient for families to attend commencement and lessen the competition of campus traffic and parking with regular university business.

The new tradition of Sunday commencement will begin this quarter, with a ceremony that begins at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 at St. John Arena.

The change to Sunday commencement has been endorsed by a chain of university governing bodies, including the University Senate, Faculty Council, the Council on Student Affairs and the Committee on Enrollment and Student Progress.

Ohio State joins nearly every public institution in Ohio, and nearly every Big Ten institution in moving to Sunday commencement. Only Miami University, the University of Cincinnati and Shawnee State continue to hold commencement on Friday. Among Big Ten universities, most institutions hold several ceremonies over the course of one or two weekends. Campus-wide ceremonies that include graduates of all colleges are a rarity. Only Ohio State and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will hold a single, campuswide ceremony on Sunday.

“While a long-standing tradition for Ohio State, from the student perspective, Friday commencement required attending family members to take vacation time — and often more than one day if they needed to travel,” said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean for undergraduate studies. “We often heard that it was difficult for family members who wanted to attend because of work and other commitments during the work week.

“We were sensitive about choosing the right day and the best time,” Garland said. “We consulted with Campus Ministries, and the Sunday afternoon ceremony seemed to have the least amount of conflict with religious services.”

In addition to keeping the tradition of a single, campuswide ceremony, Ohio State will also maintain the long-standing tradition that graduates receive their actual diplomas during the ceremony, which increases participation. University Registrar Brad Myers said the tradition is as important to the university as it is to students.

“Students revel in the fact that they leave campus on graduation day with diploma in hand,” he said. “It is a significant feat for a university of our size, with several thousand graduates participating in the ceremony.”

In addition to a change in date, the change also means significant revision to many administrative aspects of the event.

One of the biggest changes is the elimination of early senior finals. Graduating seniors had traditionally taken their final exams a week before their classmates so that their grades could be sent to the University Registrar, which is the final step before a student is certified as eligible to graduate.

Early senior finals have long been viewed as compromising the instruction for students in their last term and unreasonably adding to the workload for instructional staff.

Recent improvements in technology that allow faculty to send grades electronically to the University Registrar are making it possible to eliminate early senior finals while maintaining the very important tradition of live diplomas. “The movement to electronic grade posting and the extensive development of degree audit applications were important changes in the Office of the University Registrar to support this process change,” said Brad Myers, university registrar.

With graduating seniors taking their exams during the regular finals period, Myers said it will be important for faculty to identify graduating seniors and expedite those grades to the registrar. “Our office will continue to be accommodating and helpful to faculty as they meet the deadlines for grade submission for graduating seniors,” he said.

Candidates whose academic standing is in question — whether due to missing grades or incomplete work — will be handled as they are now: “They will be allowed to march, but will receive blank diplomas with letters of explanation,” Myers said.

Graduating seniors are encouraged to be extra attentive to details surrounding their eligibility to graduate. An instruction booklet for graduating seniors urges them to check their grades and resolve any outstanding financial obligations such as parking or library fines. If problems are identified, they can be addressed before the end of the quarter.

The change also means that staff in many departments and colleges across campus will be working on commencement weekend. The Office of Commencement and Special Events, the Office of the University Registrar and a number of other offices will implement significant process changes to make this transition work effectively.
For example, the Child Care Center will provide its services free of charge to staff who work commencement.

Garland said the change to Sunday commencement was a powerful gesture to the student community and reaffirmed Ohio State’s commitment to be the best university in their eyes. “But any change in the course of business often has significant impact on the staff, who bear the brunt of the work,” she said. “Their efforts are greatly appreciated, and truly demonstrate the caliber of the people we have at Ohio State.”

In most cases, Sunday commencement for autumn and winter quarters will be held in St. John Arena; spring commencement will continue to be held in Ohio Stadium; and summer commencement will be held in the Schottenstein Center. Although there will be exceptions, the only conflict so far is winter 2004, which will be held in the Schottenstein Center because of conflicts with NCAA basketball.