Academic Calendar Commencement Dates

Rutgers University Senate
Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee (ASRAC)
Report and Recommendations in Response to Charge S-0326 (Part 2)
Academic Calendar, Commencement Dates
March 2005

Charge S-0326 (Part 2): Consider the administration's request to adjust the University Academic Calendar to change commencement date from Thursdays to Wednesdays.

Need for Proposal and Report:

This charge was initiated by requests from Linda Schulze, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, on behalf of a committee formed by President McCormick to review commencement practices, and from Leslie Fehrenbach, Secretary of the Boards of Governors and Trustees, with the endorsement of the President’s Cabinet.

For many years, University Commencement was held at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on a Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Last year, commencement was moved to Voorhees Mall. Rutgers College uses Voorhees Mall for its graduation ceremony at 2:30 p.m. On March 30, 2004, Leslie Fehrenbach, Secretary of the Boards of Governors and Trustees, with the endorsement of the President’s Cabinet, asked the Senate to change the date of University commencement 2005 to Wednesday, May 18, the day before its previously scheduled date, to avoid traffic congestion and lack of parking for both ceremonies. ASRAC recommended last year that the change be made, and the University Senate approved this recommendation.

Dr. Schulze and Ms. Fehrenbach have since requested that the change be made permanent for all academic years. ASRAC sees no reason why this should not be done. We also note that moving the commencement ceremony to the previous Wednesday gives more flexibility to the various schools and colleges in scheduling their own graduations. No school or college may hold its graduation before the ceremony, and moving it to Wednesday will make more times available for graduation exercises.

Resolution:

Be It Resolved, for the reasons stated in this report, the Rutgers University Senate hereby moves all commencement ceremony dates in current academic calendars for all academic years from Thursday to the Wednesday of the same week.