Graduation 2025 (#1347)

Topics/tags: Grinnell, long, rambly

Yesterday marked the latest graduation at Grinnell. I suppose I should say Commencement, since that’s what we call it. I don’t always muse about graduation [1]. However, this year my muse has compelled me to do so.

Graduation is a strange time for me. Perhaps it is for all faculty. On the one hand, it’s nice to see the people we’ve helped grow move off into their lives. We don’t want students to stay in school forever! [2] And I feel proud of the people they’ve become. On the other, it’s sad to see these people who have become parts of our lives move on. I know I’ll hear from many of them, off and on, as they move through their lives [3]. But it’s not the same. This year, I also worry that fewer than usual seem to have jobs and that they are entering a particularly complex world.

I’m also sad that I didn’t get a chance to know any of them as well as I might. I often learn about other great talents on graduation weekend.

This year, I also had a new set of students I’d just started to get to know, students I met with weekly outside of class. I had little impact on these students, but I was happy to spend time with them and get to know them a little. Wishing I’d known them earlier in their careers makes me sad.

One of the hardest things about this time of year is the realization that I’m probably not as important to them as I’d like to be (or as I’d like to think I am). That’s not to say that their faculty are unimportant. But we’re far beyond family, friends, classmates, teammates, and more. Too often, graduation weekend makes me feel like an outsider.

I must also face a long-standing problem: I’m horrible at names and attaching names to faces. I have students I value highly and know well; nonetheless, I stand in front of their parents and struggle to remember their names, let alone what class they took from me. This struggle isn’t just pertinent at graduation; just a few weeks ago, I expressed surprise at learning that a student had been in my CSC-151 class. Of course, they looked much different, but I should be able to recall my students.

I forgive my students’ neurodifferences. I should forgive mine, too. And these past three years have been hard. Perhaps it’s understandable. I also teach a lot of students. It may not be possible for me to keep track, even though others can.

Where was I? Oh, that’s right. I was whining about how hard graduation is, especially when I meet parents. I’m also an introvert and a poor conversationalist. So I usually can’t think of anything to say beyond Thank you for sharing your student with us and It was great to have them in class. Once in a while, if it’s a student I know particularly well, I might find a way to make fun of the student. That’s about it.

Those are my biggest challenges at graduation: Sadness at seeing students leave. Panic at dealing with all the conversations. But the happiness and pride at seeing them graduate usually counteract the challenges.

This year was our first indoor graduation of the twenty-eight graduations we’ve had while I’ve been at Grinnell. I missed last year’s, which I believe was the first time graduation had a weather delay. We also had one online graduation during Covid and a socially distanced graduation in 2021. This year, the weather predictions were severe enough that the powers that be [4] decided to move it indoors. It was probably for the best. Part of me wonders whether we should always be inside. Certainly, there seems to be more seating, and it’s easier to control crowds. Plus, the risk of sunburn decreases significantly.

The last time we moved graduation indoors was a few years before I came to Grinnell. Back then, it moved into the old Darby Gym. Grinnell tore down that historic structure to build the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center [5,6]. I’m told that they forgot to lock the bleachers into place, and, during the ceremony, they started to pull back together. This year, they moved into the Field House [7]. As I said, it worked well.

I’m pretty sure that this is our largest graduating class. I count 443 names in the official program [9]. Now, not all of those students are graduating. A few are students in the class of ’25.5 and will finish their requirements in December. A few others have one or two courses left to complete and will complete them off campus. And a few didn’t manage to pass all their classes this semester. They may have to return, too. I hope that last number is small. Very small.

Speaking of numbers, the booklet lists 71 CS majors. I’m pretty sure that’s a record for any major. I’m told that there are 57 Sociology graduates, which I believe is a record for Sociology [10]. Six of those Sociology majors are also CS graduates. Or vice versa. I count 61 Economics majors. Speaking of counting, I count 50 Statistics concentrators. Is that a record for a concentration?

Why so many? The class of 2025 is the first post pandemic class. Those who started in the fall of 2020 (class of 2024) started in a virtual Grinnell. Not all students were interested in that choice and deferred a year. So we likely had more students start in the fall of 2021 than we’ve had before. If I recall correctly, we had so many that we asked some of them to do their first semester abroad.

We’ve also seen an increase in double majors. Of the 71 CS majors,

• Two (2) had a double major with Chemistry,
• Seven (7) had a double major with Economics,
• Three (3) had a double major with English,
• Two (2) had a double major with French,
• Two (2) had a double major with Japanese,
• Ten (10) had a double major with Mathematics,
• One (1) had a double major with Music,
• One (1) had a double major with Philosophy,
• One (1) had a double major with Physics,
• One (1) had a double major with Political Science,
• One (1) had a double major with Psychology,
• One (1) had a double major with Religious Studies,
• Six (6) had a double major with Sociology,
• One (1) had a double major with Spanish, and
• One (1) had a double major with Studio Art.

That’s over 50% of our CS students doing double majors. In addition, four of this year’s graduates are midway through 3-2 engineering programs (three at Washington University, St. Louis, one at Columbia).

What else? Oh, concentrations. Sorry. I’m not going to count the concentrations.

I expect that this will also be the highest number of international graduates we’ll see at Grinnell. In part, that’s just a result of the large number of graduates. However, other forces likely affect the percentage of international students at Grinnell. In part, current policies in the US [11] appear to be discouraging international students from coming to college in the US. Grinnell may also need to make adjustments based on forthcoming tax policies. From what I’ve read, income from endowments at colleges with more than $2,000,000 per domestic student will be taxed at 21%, while the percentage drops to 14% for those between $1.25 million and $2 million. In addition to increasing from the 1.4% already in effect, the new plan makes the denominator domestic students, rather than all students. We’re currently at about $1.9 million per domestic student, so we want to keep that number where it is or drop it. That means increasing the number of domestic students and, if we keep the number of students the same, decreasing the number of international students. But who knows. Things may change tomorrow.

As I said, this is the first indoor graduation I’ve encountered at Grinnell. It’s also the largest. We had at least three other changes this year.

First, instead of turning in notes that said I promise this senior will pass my class, faculty now had to turn in senior grades by 8:00 a.m. Monday morning [12]. Particularly since some work was due at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, that made for a busy weekend for some of my colleagues.

Second, they’ve stopped giving students diplomas in the ceremony. Instead, students receive diploma holders and must pick the diplomas up separately. I had worried that this approach seemed less friendly. It wasn’t really discussed. However, it worked fine. And it avoided all the work of the Registrar trying to ensure that the president had the right diploma to give to each student.

Third, they’ve stopped giving faculty members Commencement Programs. We had a short note about that change in an email that we were later told to ignore. While I responded to the now-ignored email, I didn’t notice the note about programs. I don’t like this change, particularly in a year in which the College has asked faculty to do more. I like having a physical program. I look at it during the ceremony. I managed to snag one, and the folks around me also wanted to look at it. I realize that we could download the program to our phones. However, I find it much easier to read a printed program. And I don’t like the idea of having all of the faculty staring at their phones during Commencement. I hope we’ll revisit this rule. If not, I’m bringing an iPad to the next Commencement.

Those changes got me thinking about what else has changed about Commencement [15] in my time at Grinnell. It would be hopeless to attempt a complete list, but many things still come to mind. Here are some, in no particular order.

• Faculty used to line up according to rank. Within rank, we were supposed to line up according to year of hire. Now it’s a free-for-all. I don’t think the change makes much of a difference. And, as I’ve said in the past, I’d rather that someone tried to line us up along the color spectrum.

• Students used to have a graduation prank. At least they did in my first few years at Grinnell. One year, they collaboratively filled a fishbowl, with the last student adding a goldfish. Another year, they built a picture of Pam Ferguson so that she could attend graduation with them. Another year, everyone handed President Osgood a golf ball. That one was not as successful. Still, I like the collaboration involved in these activities. I also like the ownership it gives students.

• Once upon a time, the chairs of the three divisions (Humanities, Science, Social Studies) read the names of the graduates from their divisions. Staff members now read those names. In many ways, this change has been good. It’s nerve-wracking to learn to pronounce names correctly. And it’s better not to segregate students by division, particularly given the large number of double majors. However, we now have many fewer representatives of the academic program on the stage; just the Dean of the College and the College Marshall, as far as I can tell. Since the degrees are awarded on the recommendation of the faculty, it would be nice to see our faculty representatives on stage [16].

• We used to have a prize for Outstanding Iowa Educator, given to a K-12 teacher nominated by one of the graduating class (or, in some cases, by a committee). I liked the ties that gave us to our state. And I liked that we acknowledged the wonderful teachers who prepared our students for Grinnell. That program disappeared completely for a few years. It’s returned, but with a broader approach. Now, students are encouraged to nominate a teacher from anywhere, rather than just Iowa. As importantly, we now award that teacher an honorary degree. I consider the honorary degree an important advancement; it shows our respect for the teachers. I have mixed feeling about broadening the locale. While I understand the reasons to do so, there’s value in honoring people in our state; it builds relationships. Fortunately, such decisions are outside my control. I suppose all of the decisions I’ve mentioned are outside my control.

• We used to have many fewer Archibald Award winners, often just one. This year, we had five. The Archibald Award is given to the student with the highest GPA. Now, multiple students graduate with a 4.0 GPA and all win the award. I don’t think this is a matter of grade inflation. Rather, it’s that we keep accepting better students (or at least students with higher ACT/GPA scores). If our grading standards remain the same, grades will naturally increase. And as grades increase, they hit an upper bound. I do find myself wondering whether we used to give an Archibald Medal rather than an Archibald Award. I’ll need to dig out some old programs to figure that out. Some folks also asked whether this was the first time that the recipient of the President’s Medal was also an Archibald winner. I don’t think so (in that I recall another student receiving both), but I can’t be sure.

• We’ve added a land acknowledgement to the start of the ceremony. Land acknowledgements are complex. We should be doing more than just acknowledging that we’re on land that was taken from other people; we should be considering ways to repair damages (say, by having scholarships in place for the former inhabitants of these lands). I’m glad that we changed our acknowledgement; it used to suggest that settlers moved the Meskwakie people off of this land. However, the Meskwakie arrived in Iowa about the time that white settlers did. The Meskwakie had just been pushed away from their land far to the east.

• It feels like the President’s Charge to the Graduates has gotten shorter. Or perhaps it was shorter this year because the reading of names was longer. I still miss Russell’s data snippets. 218 of you took a course from Tom Moore. 34% of you participated in guided research. Things like that.

• When I started, we certainly didn’t livestream Commencement. That’s a huge step forward as it permits many more people to celebrate with the graduates.

Many other things have also changed: The position of the Commencement stage, the order in which students and faculty are seated, where faculty line up, the people involved, the distribution of graduates across majors, the diversity of our students. The list goes on and on. Nonetheless, I’ve written about enough.

Congratulations graduates! May you have long and happy lives, may you find that Grinnell made you better people and helped prepare you for the world to come, and may you remember your time here fondly. Thank you for sharing yourselves with us.

Please stay in touch.

Postscript: I noted that I may have written previously about graduation/commencement. My cursory search suggests that I posted musings in 2018 and 2023. This one is longer than either. 2018’s was short. 2023’s was snarky. I’m not sure what to call this one, other than long and rambly.

[1] Commencement.

[2] Only faculty get to stay in school forever.

[3] I used to hear from students via email and GrinnellPlans. These days, I mostly hear through Facebook, but I also get the occasional email, physical message, or text.

[4] No, not Jim Powers.

[5] Wow! It’s been 100 years since Joe Rosenfield graduated. I wish we’d found a way to celebrate that.

[6] Don’t our style guidelines say that it should now be the Joe Rosenfield 1925 Center to avoid confusion?

[7] I’m pretty sure that the Field House is not named after anyone. That seems to be a great naming opportunity for someone with a few million to spare [8].

[8] I’m reminded of the old Doonesbury strip. I wanna give a gym!

[9] Counting names was an illuminating experience. I counted 43 on the first page, 46 on the second, 47 on the third, 49 on the fourth, 50 on the fifth. I wondered whether the numbers would keep going up. They didn’t. After that, I counted 47, 49, 48, 49, and 15.

[10] I count 53 Sociology Majors in the program. Numbers at Grinnell are strange. 53 is still a fantastically large number.

[11] And perhaps in Iowa.

[12] My computer spent the weekend refusing to let me log in [14]. I’m glad that I didn’t have any seniors.

[14] After two hours spent with ITS on Monday afternoon, it still won’t let me log in. Tomorrow, it goes to ITS to be re-initialized.

[15] I’ve learned not to call it graduation. At least I think I have.

[16] Or is that it would be nice to see our faculty represented on stage?

Version 1.0 of 2025-05-20.