The Commencement ceremony for the Class of 2023 was a disappointment and gave a terrible image of the university as a whole. As a small but growing university, it’s important to maintain good name recognition and relationships with alumni, and this event was embarrassing on both of those fronts. The failure became statewide news and was noted in national university news sources like The Chronicle of Higher Education, an immeasurable reputation cost. On July 19th, 2023, a task force appointed by President Nariman Farvardin released a 17-page report detailing their findings on the failure of Commencement 2023. The Stute also spoke with former Editor-In-Chief Sanjana Madhu, Class of 2023, about her experience at Commencement.
Madhu calls Commencement 2023 “disappointing,” and “a moment that all graduates, friends, and families had been looking forward to for years… tainted by poor planning and lack of sufficient communication.” The first red flags arose when the venue change was announced in late Spring 2023. The location first desired was Metlife Stadium, then the Prudential Center, but neither could be secured. When the Prudential Center called on Stevens to enact its contingency plan, the ceremony was decided to be split up across the Prudential Center, Newark Symphony Hall, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The ceremonies were scheduled back-to-back at different locations, with no alternate plan should the proceeding run long. The Prudential Center main event ran 50 minutes over schedule, causing attendees to leave during the ceremony because no communication was sent out about how the schedule would be adjusted. The delays for the event as a whole caused some graduates to abandon the ceremony and move on with their dinner reservations, flights, or other plans, deciding that Commencement 2023 was not worthwhile. Perhaps the largest failure occurred at Newark Symphony Hall, where the SES/SSE Undergraduate Naming Ceremony was scheduled for 1 p.m. but did not start until 2:30 p.m., which then caused delays in the Graduate Naming Ceremony scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the same location. Because of the lack of event-wide communication, graduates and their families arrived at NSH, thinking the event was going to start as scheduled, only to be escorted out as the venue reached capacity.
Capacity was a major issue for several reasons. First, up to 20 guests per graduate were allowed at the main Commencement ceremony at the Prudential Center, but only four guests were permitted at Newark Symphony Hall. Then, when the ticket scanning system malfunctioned, it could not be verified that those entering were registered to attend this ceremony, which became a major problem as graduate students and their guests arrived for the Graduate Naming Ceremony. At one point, graduates were escorted out to wait in the parking lot, with no cover from the sun, with the intent that they would process in as their names were called. This backfired as the speaker gave speeches intended for graduates to their guests, leading to booing and chants for the graduates to be present. The report also found that volunteers checking tickets had no communication with event coordinators during the event and had no knowledge of the overall proceedings of the event. Volunteers were given inadequate or no information on how to crowd control or ensure that only registered guests were admitted. The report describes that “There was not a main point of contact from University Events present at NSH. While there were University Events staff at the NSH ceremony, they were charged with specific aspects of the event and were not knowledgeable about the plans for the entire event.” Thus, volunteers were left to their own best judgment on how to deal with the crowds of people expecting to be let in.
University Events had previous event management issues, evidenced in the 2023 Career Fair, leading to the departure of the Executive Director of University Events, David Zimmerman, after Commencement 2023. The Task Force Report “found no evidence that financial resources from the University were lacking for a successful event,” but did mention that the team may not have been appropriately staffed. Planning was disconnected within the University Events team, and members reported “not having full awareness of decisions and plans that were put in place.” The Task Force Report recommends the repair of relationships with the Class of 2023 and their families, suggesting a separate committee be formed with this objective. Indeed, the purpose of this report is not to make up for the experience of Commencement 2023 but to explain the organizational failings that caused it. Madhu considers the report helpful, though “the real proof will be seen in how Commencement 2024 unfolds. Previous correspondence separate from the task report seems to imply that the administration hopes to make up for the disaster through planning for a strong Reunion 2024 for our class, which is a nice gesture.” In addition to the Reunion plans, graduates received a $260 refund and a complementary diploma case. Ultimately, Madhu is able to move on from the experience and comments, “While disappointed, the blunders during Commencement 2023 did not significantly change my views of Stevens, because my experience here was defined by my four undergraduate years, not graduation day.”
