Rice disappoints with diploma delay

“Congratulations on completing a rigorous, four-year education at an internationally renowned university of the highest caliber. Please accept this plastic tube and enclosed poster. Next.”

In the time I have been here, nothing the administration has done has infuriated me as much as this latest insult. Instead of receiving diplomas at commencement, the graduates will be presented with an inconsequential token until the real documents are printed and mailed six to eight weeks later, as though we ordered X-ray vision goggles out of the back of a comic book. (See story, page 1).

Administrators have offered a number of different excuses, which vary depending on the administrator you talk to. One administrator told me it was a money issue. Another told me the money was not a problem, but that the manpower and logistics required to hand out diplomas at commencement were insurmountable. The third said the outcry from about 30 alumni who inadvertently destroyed their diplomas last year was the primary reason we will not receive our diplomas May 13. It turns out that champagne is the number one cause of damage to sheepskin diplomas, followed closely by beach balls.

Let me just say that if you cannot be trusted to protect and cherish your diploma, you are not worthy of the honor it bestows. Perhaps the university should hold onto yours — it can be kept it in the basement of the Allen Center, under glass, and you can visit it during business hours.

By mailing them home, Rice is able to print the diplomas the Monday after commencement. Seemingly, Rice administrators figured they can save us the trouble of having to transport diplomas by mailing them to our parents’ addresses. But they forget those students who will not be home six to eight weeks after graduation — surely a sizable proportion. Mailing diplomas simply displaces the burden of the university on hundreds of graduates.

It seems to me the administration is not doing this for us — it is doing it just to be like other schools. Schools smaller than Rice give out diplomas at commencement, and schools much bigger than Rice do not. It is as if the administration has a Napoleon complex about Rice — a big university trapped in a small university’s campus. Wrong.

We are a small university, and we need to embrace it. We are not “on the cusp” of some divide between the tiny liberal arts colleges and the big 50,000 student state schools. We are a small, well-rounded university with a lot to offer. We should praise the fact that we care about our students — both graduate and undergraduate — instead of trying to be just like our older, bigger cousins on the coasts.

This disaster occurred because administrators did not foster communication with the students. Sure, they talked with the SA president last summer — but with all due respect, his administration did not exactly represent the outgoing graduates. Administrators should have asked permission, rather than waiting to seek forgiveness.

I have witnessed a lot of aggravating actions at Rice — but this latest fault is a truly unforgivable error at the cost of the graduating class. This affront will leave a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of my life. Development Office take note: Do not expect much from the class of 2006. I plan to vote — or not vote — with my dollars from here on out.

Jack Hardcastle is a senior and former Wiess College president.

Back to top