I’m surprised no one has written an article yet on this semester’s commencement ceremony time change. 

The University changed the time of the graduation ceremony from its usual morning slot, lasting only about two hours, to 6:30 p.m., with many additional performances (therefore extending the ceremony length) “to inject more pomp and circumstance into the day,” according to the Athens Banner Herald. 

One of the benefits of this time change is the ability of individual schools to host graduation festivities earlier in the day… and that seems to be the only benefit I could think of. Maybe the cooler night weather will make it more comfortable to sit through.

There seem to be more detrimental effects, including the potential (or rather, guarantee) that many students will arrive intoxicated, which will interfere with the ambiance of the evening, not to mention with sober students’ ability to pay attention to the speakers. 

The new evening ceremony also infringes on celebratory family dinner times (mine has moved to 9 p.m., but with all of the added performances that the administration is planning, we might just be ordering Gumby’s when we finally leave at 11 p.m. instead). 

Sure, graduates could celebrate with their families on Friday night or Sunday night, but for those of us out-of-staters whose family members have to work 9-5 the Friday before they fly in and Monday after they get back, it’s not exactly good timing. 

And finally, adding performances and therefore making the ceremony longer just seems unnecessary. It’s a graduation, not a concert. No insult meant to whomever will be performing, it’s just that graduation is already long enough.

 None of the graduating classes before us have had night ceremonies, and none of the graduating classes after us have night ceremonies planned either. Why us? Because it’s an anniversary that happens to fall on a divisible number?

All I can say is I hope we have one heck of a prestigious speaker to make up for our graduating class’s being singled out with this time change and added length… oh wait, administration isn’t doing that either. 

Lindsay Smith

Senior 

North Potomac, Maryland 

Speech Communication 

Raise for Congress column good idea

I am compelled to write to voice my approval of Michael Brazeal’s Opinion column from Monday, “Congress’ paychecks lacking the punch.” My family knows the Price family, and I, too, agree with what Michael said. I was pleasantly surprised with his article yesterday morning!

Justin Leef

Sophomore, Atlanta

Political science 

and sociology