Opinion | I appreciate Chapman’s stance on graduation

Yesterday, I got a knock on my front door. I went to answer and was thrilled to find a package sitting outside because who doesn’t love when their Amazon packages arrive? But instead of finding my skin care order I had placed over the weekend that I was expecting, I saw a medium sized box with the word “Josten’s” printed on it. And for those who aren’t seniors and might not know what this company sells, well, it was my cap and gown. 

I think I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t been looking forward to graduation since I started college. Not because I don’t like school or because I’m that desperate to leave, because I love school and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet – but there’s something about graduation that has always captured my heart. The circumstance, the cheers, the comradery. It really hit me when I unpacked my gown, saw the Chapman stole and my cap’s tassel, that my last semester of college is going to look extremely different to how I imagined it, graduation included. 

But with all that said, that’s why I appreciate Chapman’s stance on graduation thus far. 

I can’t imagine how many calls Dean Price’s office has received within recent weeks about the graduation ceremonies. With many universities across the country either canceling or postponing their respective graduations, I think that all us seniors expected to hear from Chapman that our weekend to shine and celebrate our achievements had been pushed to the back burner. But to my surprise and I’m sure to the surprise of many others, as of right now, Chapman has kept our graduation ceremony on the books. 

In an email sent out by Dean Price’s office March 23, it was announced that the school will “monitor the evolving situation with Coronavirus, speak to members of our community and determine the best approach.” As of right now, Chapman is committed to holding graduation, but is planning for it to be postponed if necessary. And with the goal of providing us all with more information by the beginning of next month, I have something to say to Chapman that I haven’t said very often in my role as Editor-in-Chief of The Panther: thank you. 

When I unpacked my cap and gown, I felt this odd sense of disappointment, of knowing that I wouldn’t sit with my wonderfully funny, amazing friends at commencement, that I wouldn’t walk across that stage and get my very well deserved diploma and watch as my peers do the same. But in that split second, I had to remind myself that graduation has yet to be postponed. And although the pessimist in me is preparing for the worst, there is still just a tiny glimmer of hope that this virus – whose status changes drastically everyday – will be behind us come the end of May, and we can proceed as planned. 

I want to thank Chapman’s administration for not giving up on our graduation, for not caving to the same pattern of behavior as other universities across the country. To my fellow seniors, we’ve come this far, and come May or a postponed date, we will walk across that stage and get the graduation we deserve. And to all other students at Chapman, whose commencements are years from now, don’t take the graduation experience for granted when it’s your turn. 

But damn, the class of 2020 will certainly not be one to forget.