NORTHAMPTON — Smith College students, led by senior class president Toula Sierros, are pushing for the college to consider rescheduling its canceled commencement ceremony to coincide with the second weekend of next year’s reunion traditions.
For Smith students, commencement is more than just walking across a stage, Sierros said — the college also holds reunion traditions that heavily involve alumni, who first participate in the celebrations with the graduating class the weekend of the commencement ceremony and then have their own alumni festivities the following weekend.
Under Sierros’ proposal, the class of 2021 would hold its graduation ceremony as usual, and the class of 2020 would have its ceremony added to the following, typically alumni-only weekend, which Sierros said would ensure that each graduating class has its own moment in the spotlight.
A petition supporting the initiative has garnered nearly 400 signatures. Most of the signatures are from graduating seniors, Sierros said, but other students, alumni and parents also have signed on
When Smith College announced last week that it would cancel its May commencement ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, college president Kathleen McCartney wrote in an email to students that the college “will determine a way to recognize the great class of 2020 and to celebrate your many achievements” once the crisis has passed and is “exploring ways to celebrate with you virtually.”
Sierros said that she completely agrees with the decision to cancel graduation this year and does not want an immediate answer from the college regarding postponement, but she does “want there to be a pin put in place right now” for the college to reschedule the ceremony. When Sierros saw that college officials were exploring a virtual option, she said that she felt “kind of pushed aside during this time of crisis, and so hopeless.”
“There are bigger things to worry about,” Sierros added, “but that doesn’t mean that we have to be forgotten.”
Although McCartney told students that the college is exploring virtual options at the moment, college spokeswoman Stacey Schmeidel told the Gazette that “Smith’s intention has always been to celebrate this year’s graduating seniors on-campus in some way.”
College leaders are currently working out those details, Schmeidel said.
At other area colleges, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College have indefinitely postponed their ceremonies and Hampshire College plans for class of 2020 commencement celebrations to coincide with its 50th anniversary celebrations in October. Holyoke Community College has not yet announced a decision on whether commencement will be canceled or postponed.
When Smith comes to a decision, Sierros hopes that its plan will allow the class of 2020 to connect with an alumni network that she said is vital to the Smith experience.
“Smith is built on traditions,” Sierros said. “We’re a historically women’s college, and so much in why we’ve been so instrumental in the advancement of women is these traditions that we carry on.”
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.