FARMINGTON – Last week when UMF’s President Serna made an announcement that this spring’s Commencement ceremony would be a virtual one, the class of 2021 had an immediate response. Current senior Samantha Wood observed that many of her fellow graduating seniors were shocked and felt cheated by the announcement. Garnering the support of other seniors, that weekend Wood wrote a petition to reconsider the commencement decision and within 48 hours had 365 signatures. It had been shared 140 times and viewed 1,700 times just on social media.
“I’m not underestimating the scope of this situation. I know these are hard decisions to make, but we would like to have a voice. There wasn’t much initial transparency with the senior class. You can’t leave us in the dark,” said Wood.
One of the issues that many students had with the commencement decision was the extensive inclusivity of it.
Senior Class President Isaac Seigle wrote in an email, “The decision to cancel an in-person graduation ceremony was an across-the-board decision that was made by the University of Maine System Office. This decision was not made by UMF.”
The demographics vary considerably across the schools in the UMaine system, and the students at UMF wanted a commencement plan that was specific to their school, not one that might only be necessary for larger schools in the system such as the University of Maine at Orono.
“It seems unnecessary to make a system-wide decision when the system boasts the uniqueness of its campuses,” said Seigle.
Though Wood hopes that the petition eventually makes it to Chancellor of the UMaine system, Dannel Malloy, it has at least placed some pressure on President Serna. After receiving the petition from Wood, UMF’s Student Senate President Page Cadorette met with President Serna about it on Thursday night to discuss possibilities of a compromise. At the meeting, President Serna acknowledged the senior class’ frustration, but is hesitant to allow for any in-person plans to be made based on the outcome of the class of 2020’s commencement. Furthermore, while students might want a unique decision, there isn’t much room for one to be made while still abiding by state regulations.
“We are restricted under the Civil Authority of Maine which regulates and controls the outside gatherings of public institutions like our own,” Cadorette wrote in an email regarding her meeting with President Serna. “This organization, as well as the Maine CDC, are the ones setting the guidelines for outdoor events, and we have to abide by their rules.”
President Serna has recognized that students want to propose creative alternatives for a commencement ceremony though and welcomes their input on finding a solution. There will be a student town hall meeting held soon to provide students with this opportunity to discuss options.
“The administration wants to work with us. They want to help give the students what they want, but in order to do that, they want to hear our ideas first,” said Cadorette.
The date for the virtual student town hall meeting has not been set yet but will be shared soon.
