The 2024 commencement ceremonies took place at SUNY New Paltz on May 17-19, but a decision to move them indoors less than a week ahead of time threw plans of some students and their families into disarray. Relocating the events inside, despite the beautiful weather all weekend, appeared to be an attempt to tamp down on the police presence that otherwise may have been needed in the wake of 132 individuals being arrested May 2 at a dismantled protest encampment on campus. With the multiple ceremonies going off without a hitch, university administrators may be in a position to breathe a sigh of relief as the school year draws to a close.
Commencement was to have been in the Old Main quad, as it has been for several years running, rain or shine. The move to put everything in the athletic center required splitting two undergraduate ceremonies into four, and triggered the need for tickets for family members attending in person. The announcement, sent out in the middle of the week, included this justification: “Splitting the ceremonies will alleviate traffic and congestion on campus and in the community, including for our families traveling to New Paltz from the New York State Thruway, and mitigate the risk of ceremonies being disrupted by forecasted [sic] inclement weather.”
In past years, weather was not a factor that was considered. Students who walked in 2018 covered their blue robes in single-use disposable rain ponchos. Moreover, the forecast posted on the Hudson Valley Weather site and Facebook page on Wednesday showed a partly cloudy forecast Saturday and clear skies Sunday; the Thursday forecast showed the weekend to be sunny. Not everyone believed this explanation.
Graduates were scrambling
Brenden and Julianna Wisnewski, a married couple, were to have graduated together, but the last-minute changes left them scrambling. In response, Brenden wrote this email to SUNY New Paltz President Darrell Wheeler: ” I would like to say, four days before graduation having these changes is unhinged. My pregnant wife and I are graduating together, engineering and education, and were very excited to see each other walk and now will not have that opportunity due to these frantic last-minute changes. We have family traveling from out of state, paying money to come see us graduate together and now due to this change, four days in advance once again, will not be awarded that. We all went to the commencement meeting, we were told emphatically ‘rain or shine’ the commencement will be outdoors no matter what, and now it’s moved inside due to inclement weather and traffic congestion problems? The commencement has been outdoors for the past few years, and the town is always congested. This institution has instilled critical thinking skills within all of us students, we can look at the weather report for this weekend and know that these changes are not due to weather. I was a United States Marine Corps sergeant with over five years of service to my country, I worked my butt off to get here along with my wife who did the same. I implore you to have some honesty in your emails [as] to why you’re making these changes and stripping the commencement that we were promised along with our families. Up until this moment, New Paltz has been a great experience helping me transition into the civilian world and propel me into a successful future. We all know it’s about the protests and the actions taken on May 2, you made your bed lay in it, don’t perform group punishment.”
Brenden Wisnewski said when reached for comment that “finding a way” to see Julianna’s ceremony had become a priority, because Brenden had given a ticket to a family member who otherwise would have had to watch from the lecture center. The way this changed was rolled out was also frustrating, because administration were “not being truthful in that they are moving the graduation inside because they fear that students will protest the president and the administration due to their actions calling the police on May 2 to remove the encampment. For the originally-planned outside ceremony the school sent out an email saying that they would have a ‘free speech zone’ for protesters; this is America and a public university [and] you can exercise your free speech anywhere you please. The president and leadership here clearly cannot take the blowback for the actions they took on May 2nd and now they are compromising the graduation experience for all students.”
A festive atmosphere
With the shift to indoor ceremonies, a festive atmosphere outside the athletic center — complete with a booth for purchasing last-minute graduation gifts emblazoned with the New Paltz logo — included a dozen smiling university employees tasked with searching bags before entry. The sounds of the Hudson Valley Brass Quintet easily filled the cavernous space, where a stage had been erected on one side and bleachers extended on the other. The graduates did not appear to have their joy diminished by these last-minute changes or the context in which they were made. Many of them expressed their individuality in their matching blue robes in their choice of accessories, or by decorating their mortarboards.
President Wheeler’s role handled by the provost
There were other changes, as well. The printed program had Wheeler giving opening remarks and introductions; these were instead handled by the provost, William McClure, who acknowledged that the last-minute changes had “led to concern and disappointment,” but justified them by explaining that this would give students the chance to individually walk across the stage. Keynote speaker Myra Kressner began by noting that what has transpired on this and other campuses cannot be ignored, before moving on to a speech about the meaning of the word “success.” Wheeler’s only role was the formal conferring of degrees; the president did receive polite applause.
Salutatorian dedicates remarks to students in Gaza
Salutatorian Sen Oglesby was more direct, praising “my comrades on Parker Quad” and the 133 individuals “brutalized by state troopers in riot gear” when that protest was broken up on May 2. While SUNY officials have asserted that each university president has made their own decisions addressing such campus unrest — and Wheeler has taken full responsibility — it has also been reported that Governor Kathy Hochul wrote a letter to university presidents on April 29, which read in part, “All institutions must act to aggressively guard against anti-semitism and all forms of hateful or discriminatory rhetoric, on and off campus, as well as to uphold the solemn right to demonstrate in support of one’s beliefs.” Some Jewish campus community members did feel that some of the slogans used during the protest were anti-semitic, but not all: some of students at the protest did identify as Jewish.
Oglesby went on to dedicate remarks to those students in Gaza who cannot hold graduation ceremonies due to bombing, along with other victims of the ongoing war in that region. “None of us are free until all of us are free,” Oglesby concluded to enthusiastic cheers from the graduates. “Free Palestine.”
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