Never underestimate the importance of a graduation ceremony. Certainly, it’s not something that everyone participates in once they get their diplomas, but for many, it’s an event that serves as a reminder of how far they’ve come, and, perhaps even more significantly, of their accomplishment itself. On June 16th, 2015, my older brother received his Master of Arts degree at the last ceremony before the university closed down for the summer. I was at the ceremony to cheer him on. Little did I know that I’d be witness to possibly the worst graduation ceremony in a long time.
It started off inconspicuously enough. The speaker, a Helsinki University graduate herself, made a cute comment about this year being her first time signing the actual diplomas, which caused her to phone her mom in excitement about everything coming full circle. Once they started presenting the diplomas for the Doctors and then Masters, there was a bit of disruption with certain families rather selfishly insisting on cheering for their loved ones, despite being told to wait until the end. I found that mildly annoying, but little did I know what was to come.
After every present Masters student had received their diploma, it was time to award the Bachelor’s Degree students… At which point, several families decided to leave the ceremony. This raised an eyebrow, but the speaker’s reaction to this nearly made my eyes pop-out. As she looked up at the roughly 20-30 people leaving (amongst a sea of hundreds), the speaker stated that it was clear many people were in a hurry to get home, so in the interest of time, she made the decision that the Bachelor’s Degree students would remain seated, while she simply read off their names.
There was a bit of a stunned silence after she made this decision, save for the guy next to me quietly going “booooo!” The decision made no sense. Everyone that left was undoubtedly there for a Master’s or Doctorate student, so why rush through the Bachelor’s because of them? Now, all of the students who had patiently sat there for over an hour awaiting their own turn to go up and get their diploma, were robbed of that moment. One of these people is a good friend of mine, who had worked tirelessly for the past two years to finally get her Bachelor’s degree. Some of you may think that this moment isn’t a big deal, but the look of complete and utter disappointment on her face was palpable.
And so the Bachelor’s students continued to remain seated, while their names were read. At the beginning of this, several families started to applaud when their student’s name was read. Earlier, this kind of behavior had annoyed me, but now I saw it as a revolt against the treatment of the students. However, this didn’t last long before the speaker curtly told everyone to stop applauding so that the ceremony doesn’t go on even longer. After that, we all mostly just sat there, as each name was unceremoniously read, one by one. It was one of the most awkward moments I’ve experienced since… Well, since I was a teenager, really.
After each name had finally been read, it was time for the speech. When I graduated back in 2012, the speech was absolutely wonderful. They spoke of the virtues of being a humanist in this day and age; as jobs continue to require an ever-expanding list of qualifications, humanists have an advantage with their multi-layered education. Humanists, they said, have not only the usual job skills, but have developed the necessary emotional and cognitive skills needed to navigate an increasingly international job market. Honestly, it made me proud to be a humanist.
By contrast, this year’s speech began with talking about how the government is constantly looking to make more cutbacks to the University. Exactly the kind of cheery and inspirational topic needed at a graduation ceremony. From there, the speech essentially became an advertisement for HelsinkiUniversity, promoting the new modals of education that will be introduced in the years to come. The only part even remotely approaching anything like the speech I heard at my own graduation ceremony, was when the speaker said that graduating from Helsinki University is a big deal because it is a University that is recognized around the world. And then she ruined that by continuing to talk… “Or, well, at least most people know where Helsinki is.”
And then someone spoke up. Quietly so that I could barely hear her, but the first dissenting comment by a student was made: “and apparently Helsinki University is a University where Bachelor’s degree students don’t get their diplomas.” The speaker appeared flustered at first, clearly not expecting someone to actually interrupt her. Even worse for her, people in the audience started to applaud the student. And then others spoke up, echoing some of the sentiments expressed in this very article. Finally, the speaker sternly told the audience to “calm down” so that she could finish her speech.
After a few more agonizing moments, the speech dragged its lifeless corpse over the finish line, which meant it was now time for a solution that would appease all Bachelor’s students. Or not. It was decided that there would be a brief pause for everyone that wants to leave, after which the speaker would read through all of the names again, so that the students could get their Bachelor’s diplomas one by one. To repeat, her solution was to read through them again! As I left with my brother, not wanting to sit through that again, I overheard her assistant attempt to assuage the situation by informing the students that they could also come to the office the next morning at 10am to collect their diplomas there. Just like all of the students who had decided not to sit through the ceremony. It was a final slap in the face to everyone that had been there that day.
Part of what made this whole ceremony so frustrating was that it felt indicative of the University’s current attitude towards students in general. I know from friends that last year’s speech was also more of a plea for money than it was about being a humanist, but this ceremony showed to an even more extreme degree how little the University seems to value their students at the moment. It’s less about instilling a sense of accomplishment and a good education, and more focused on the graduation aspect. Just as the speaker seemed keen to rush everyone out of the room, the University feels increasingly more keen to rush students to graduate.
This was something that was felt at another small ceremony that I attended last fall. It was to give gift cards to every student that had gotten at least 55 study credits the previous year, and the speech there was also about telling students to get more study points each year, because the University needs money.
To be clear, I am not saying that the University shouldn’t encourage people to graduate nor am I saying that the University should never ask for money. However, when the bottom line for the University continues to be money, it makes the students feel increasingly less appreciated. The graduation ceremony is a time to reflect on past accomplishments and to look to the future. It is, first and foremost, about the students and is only about the University to the extent that graduating from said University should be a moment to feel proud of. However, by continuing to undermine students in the interest of financial compensation, the University is losing a lot of credibility in the eyes of the very people who attend it. Why should we care about a University that does not seem to care about us?
