Columbia seniors, parents say canceling commencement is a 'demoralizing' end
Columbia's announcement Monday that it was canceling next week's universitywide commencement ceremony in favor of small-scale celebrations was met with disappointment from seniors and their families, upending plans that a tumultuous school year could be salvaged with the normalcy of a time-honored tradition.
Columbia's announcement Monday that it was canceling next week's universitywide commencement ceremony in favor of small-scale celebrations was met with disappointment from seniors and their families, upending plans that a tumultuous school year could be salvaged with the normalcy of a time-honored tradition.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations over Israel's war in Gaza bookended seniors' final academic year at the Ivy League institution's upper Manhattan campus, where a tent encampment on the lawn and the occupation of Hamilton Hall, an administration building, resulted in scores of arrests and concerns over safety.
"It's been a tough time — I think it's been demoralizing," graduating senior Alexis Ishmael said. "Campus morale is so low. It's just sad."
Ishmael said she and her parents had to "make their peace" that a typical commencement ceremony at Columbia, which dates to 1758, when the school was known as King's College, might not occur because of fraught security issues.
But still, she said, she held out hope. She recalled another Columbia commencement ceremony nine years ago that grabbed headlines when a senior graduated with a mattress in tow — to bring awareness to sexual assault on campus.
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