Give the Class of 2023 the commencement they deserve

Dear Chancellor Subbaswamy, the Provost, and UMass Amherst administration:

The new academic calendar implementing a 6-week winter session that pushes commencement to memorial day weekend has caused a plethora of problems for the Class of 2023.

While the benefits listed in the email sent on April 13th, 2022 may help students academically, there are various cons that this academic calendar change will cause - and is already causing.

A great majority of upperclassmen live off-campus in the surrounding Amherst area. Their leases will end on or before memorial day weekend. My own lease ends May 26th, 2023 - the day graduation is now planned to be. The problem with pushing commencement to memorial day weekend now proves to be a real issue for any student who lives off-campus and plans to attend their own graduation.

While we can beg our landlords to extend our lease or help us out in some way, the reality is that landlords do not have to comply or may not be able to. Students in Amherst have signed leases already that start June 1, 2023. Landlords have people lined up to move in and can't extend our leases to accommodate the change in our commencement. It is more than likely that people's landlords cannot help everyone out. Many students will be unfairly affected by this change and will not be able to attend commencement weekend.

Furthermore, we won't have anywhere to celebrate with friends and family. We have worked for years towards this glorious celebration that we intend to share with who we love. Yet, now we can't. Our celebrations will be cut short. We won't be able to enjoy the weekend because now we don't have a place to do so since our leases ended. Not to mention those who live out of state. What will those students do who have to move out of their apartment, attend graduation, and drive/fly home all on the same day? Also, I call on you to consider that most people over the age of 21 will be drinking. With no place to go now, they will be putting themself and others in harm's way by possibly having to drive under the influence.

Additionally, many jobs, internships, and graduate school programs begin on June 1. People have jobs and big plans lined up already for next summer. These students now have less than a few days to graduate, move out, and prepare for the next step in their lives. What if they need to move across the country for this? With the change in commencement, now they have no time to barely even say goodbye to their college friends.

Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic has already cost us years of a normal college experience. We were sent home in the spring of our freshman year. Most of us faced 4.5 semesters of abnormal college events: online classes, not seeing our friends for semesters, wearing masks to class and campus, no social life on or off-campus due to covid regulations...the list can go on. The Class of 2023 has faced extreme and uncalled-for occurrences that no college student should have to encounter. Now, we face having a commencement weekend that we can't attend or celebrate. We have gone through so much already and deserve the chance to have a normal graduation ceremony.

The act of moving commencement to memorial day weekend was an unjust move and shows that the admin did not take into account how this would affect students.

This petition calls upon the Chancellor, the Provost, and UMass admin to consider the points above and the people who have signed. We ask that you move commencement for the Class of 2023 back to when it typically occurs in early May. Give the Class of 2023 the celebration they deserve.

Respectfully,
The Class of 2023