Davis explores Feb graduation

Author: Taylor Johnston

President Ronald D. Liebowitz has launched an investigation into the feasibility of a Feb graduation after announcing his interest in turning the Feb celebration into a graduation at the last Board of Trustees meeting.

Heading the investigation process, Secretary of the College Eric Davis will examine the possible pitfalls of a mid-year graduation over the course of the coming semester.

"I believe it's time for us to think seriously about how to make this happen," said Liebowitz.

Making the traditional celebration and ski-down into an official graduation ceremony would require faculty to submit Winter Term grades and senior comprehensive exam results for graduating Febs only one day after winter classes ended.

Despite this challenge, Liebowitz remains hopeful that such a change will prove plausible. "I suspect we can come up with ways to make it work," he said.

Davis emphasized that a Feb graduation would have to follow the same guidelines and restrictions as the regular spring ceremony.

"No student walks across the stage unless he or she has been certified by the faculty as having satisfactorily completed all degree requirements, with grades submitted for all final term courses," he said. "Additionally, grades would need to be turned in sufficiently in advance of graduation to permit College and departmental honors to be calculated."

Davis hopes to find out whether or not the time frame to submit grades and exam results will prove reasonable for the faculty, and also how the tight deadlines might affect the senior thesis and project process.

"How far in advance of the end of Winter Term would theses or senior projects need to be submitted in order to allow sufficient time for the work to be read, oral examinations to be administered and honors to be assigned?" he inquired, highlighting one of the concerns the inquiry hopes to address. "Would an earlier deadline for submitting theses adversely affect the process of thesis-writing or other aspects of the senior program?"

Davis also stressed that the investigation is still "only in the early exploratory stages" of assessing the possibility of mid-year graduation.

"The administration is just starting to talk about issues associated with making the Feb celebration a graduation," he said. "We would need to have extensive consultations with the faculty, particularly department chairs, on the issues covered by the questions above. Until those consultations have been completed, it is far too early for me to say whether making the Feb celebration a graduation would be feasible."