Commencement

Today was commencement at my school. Faculty are required to go to one commencement ceremony per year, but it's a requirement with no teeth, so a lot of faculty manage to miss it. I take it pretty seriously, because I think that the commencement ceremony is one way that we make an impression on parents, alumni, and the community. If faculty don't show up, or don't have the proper dignity, it reflects badly on the institution. That's my position, anyway.

It is also fun to see students graduate with whom you've worked in the past. I recognized one student from my very first semester here, fall of 2000. So she must have been on the six-year plan. There are some very good math majors whom I will be sorry to see go.

I've been to enough of these things that I am starting to get bored with the predictable displays of originality. The guy wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops under his gown. The students who mug for the crowd as they walk across the stage. The guy in the stands with the air horn. Today's guy had a particularly obnoxious airhorn, and either he knew a lot of people, or he got encouraged when a few people laughed the first time he honked it, because he honked it again and again, until I was ready to charge up into the bleachers and see if it would fit in his nose. But I don't suppose that would reflect well on the institution, would it?

The best news is that is was cool, so we weren't sitting there melting.