The last 24 hours have been an emotional roller coaster for seniors in UNC’s global studies department, but now they can rest assured their graduation ceremony will carry on as scheduled.
In an email, College of Arts and Sciences spokeswoman Dee Reid said the ceremony would proceed as originally scheduled on May 11 at 3:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
“The College is prepared to pay,” Reid said.
The decision comes less than a day after chairman Andrew Reynolds sent an email to all seniors in the department, explaining that "the ceremony was canceled":http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2014/03/unc-global-studies-commencement-ceremony-put-on-hold due to a lack of funding and the impending departure of Administrative Manager Caroline Poole on Friday.
The announcement sparked outrage among students, who took to social media to voice their frustrations and started a petition on Change.org to reinstate the ceremony. The petition was signed by 348 people, who posted things like, “Academics should be top priority. This is a travesty.” Many volunteered to raise the $2,500 needed to hold the ceremony in Memorial Hall themselves.
Reynolds responded with a second email Tuesday, thanking the students for their efforts and concerns.
“The news that the curriculum in global studies was unable to conduct a separate majors graduation ceremony this year brought out the best in our students,” he wrote in the email.
“An outpouring of support, understanding, and desire to pitch in and rally around the major that we call home. We were gratified how many of you, while being deeply disappointed, understood that this was not the doing of the faculty or staff of the curriculum but a situation forced on us by lack of resources.”
Senior global studies major Linden Wait said the budget deficit has been an ongoing issue which has prevented the department from hiring more administrative staff to assist Poole.
