Howard University’s College of Nursing and Allied Health Services graduates received a special graduation ceremony after the school had to cut the first one early after family and relatives lost it when the venue met capacity.
The first ceremony took place on May 9. Those locked out of the venue banged on the doors, broke windows, and kept yelling.
I get their frustration, especially since the school said it didn’t need to hand out tickets and the students could bring three to four guests.
The school canceled the graduation mid-ceremony:
Families filled Cramton Auditorium to watch students in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences walk across the stage. But as they walked, dozens of loved ones were locked out, with some trying to push their way in.“Let us in! Let us in!” some chanted.“While they were doing the keynote speaker, there was, like, loud banging, even before that, for like 10 minutes straight,” graduate Bria Flowers said. “Just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.”“Because of the size of the room and because our relatives sometimes do not know how to act, the fire department is now here to shut us down,” Dr. Gina S. Brown, dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, told the crowd to a chorus of boos.
The school claimed the fire department shut down the ceremony due to “the size of the room and because our relatives sometimes do not know how to act.” Personnel said they arrived because of a medical call.
Halle Ragoonanan saw her classmates get cut from flying glass.
Ragoonanan didn’t even get to walk: “I didn’t get to walk. I graduated magna cum laude and I didn’t even get to walk. I’m the class of 2020. I didn’t get to walk for my high school graduation and I didn’t get to walk for my college graduation.”
The makeup ceremony occurred on May 11. Thankfully many of the graduates stuck around.
I’m glad they got to walk, especially since so many lost their high school graduation.
It turns out the school left many family and friends of engineering graduates out in the rain on Friday night for the same reason!
Howard University never ran out of space before:
Howard University chief communications officer Lydia Sermons said running out of space for graduations of individual colleges had not been an issue in past years. She said this year’s graduating class is the largest in Howard University history, and that combined with many students not having a normal high school graduation in 2020 due to the pandemic has drawn huge crowds for graduations this year.She pledged that the school would plan in the future to try to prevent a repeat of what has happened at some graduations this year.
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