Senior has graduation photoshoot on The Yard. (Cymphani Hargrave/The Hilltop)
Some 3,500 Howard students will graduate Saturday into a global and national environment marked by political and economic turbulence. The Bison will be celebrated by roughly 14,000 people on The Yard for the first time in two years, according to Howard’s Executive Director of the Office of University Events and Protocol, Andrew Rivers.
The return to The Yard on May 10 follows the last two commencement ceremonies which were held at the Capital One Arena. The university secured a two-year contract with the arena to accommodate the 2023 and 2024 ceremonies, according to Rivers.
“When you look at our ceremony itself, in terms of our ceremony procedures, we remain with the culture. We remain with the tradition. And that you will see in this ceremony on The Yard,” Rivers said.
Actor and Director LeVar Burton, known for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow and Roots, will deliver the commencement address. He will follow former President Joe Biden and TIAA’s CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, who were the commencement speakers in the last two years.
“The committee sought a commencement speaker who exemplifies key qualities like curiosity, resilience, social impact, effective communication and broad appeal,” Dana A. Williams, graduate dean, professor of African American literature and convocation committee member, said. “His presence reflects the values we think reflect those the university shares with our graduates and their families.”
Despite surpassing the Class of 2024’s 2,508 graduates by 1,000, this year’s graduates are encountering new obstacles. Policy changes, such as President Donald Trump’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and the Jan 20. federal hiring freeze in the executive branch is expected to significantly impact some students’ post-graduation career development.
Forbes predicts stagnation or an increase in unemployment rates as a result of DEI rollbacks.
Rivers said the ‘The Long Walk,’ a Howard commencement tradition, will return this year. During this process, graduating students walk from the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts building to Founders Library before taking their seats.
“It is that long walk that indicates that now they have achieved what they initially started off to do,” Rivers said.
The ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. with processional. Comments will start at 10 a.m., and the event is estimated to come to a close before 1 p.m. Ceremonies for each school and college will be held from May 7 to 10, and each has their own set number of tickets allotted to students.
Each graduate will have four tickets for family and friends to sit on The Yard due to capacity. Some students in class and student organization group chats have offered to sell their allotted tickets to others who would like to accommodate extra invitees.
For students who want friends and family to watch the procession, Rivers said Howard has “cultivated some of what we call other ‘satellite locations’ for our family and friends to actually view the ceremony while they may not be on The Yard.”
The satellite locations include Cramton Auditorium, John H. Burr Gymnasium and William H. Greene Stadium.
Tianna Boyd, a psychology major and criminology minor from Halifax, Virginia, is one of many graduates looking forward to commencement as a final chance for their family to witness what they have accomplished on campus.
“I made it this far. I just feel like I deserve [a ceremony],” Boyd said. “I need some type of proof to say, ‘Man, I did it.’”
The 3,500 graduates include undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The university offers professional programs in executive business administration, dentistry, law, medicine and pharmacy. Howard’s graduate school offers over 40 doctoral, master’s, certificate and MD/Ph.D degrees, according to its website.
Karida Harris, will be graduating with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Howard University Law School (HUSL). She is a Baltimore native and a first-generation college student.
“There are so many unique barriers to first-generation students and at HUSL everyone understood that,” she said.
She continued, saying that the law school community and alumni network supported each other, shared opportunities and built a community to overcome the barriers first-generation students experience today and continue to work on breaking them down for future students.
“Graduating from law school is more than just earning a degree,” Harris said. “The degree represents the fruits of the time, energy, resources, and blessings that have been bestowed upon me by God and those who He’s placed in my life.”
She said the actual graduation itself is “a call and a responsibility to use” newly acquired skills and resources to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
Reflecting on her time at Howard Law, Harris said it was not easy, but her professors and peers challenged each other to be the best versions of themselves. She attended the United States Coast Guard Academy for her undergraduate degree, and said both undergraduate and law school were a “grind.”
According to Reuters, the largest employer of law students and law graduates within the federal government, The Justice Department, has rescinded permanent job offers to third-year law students along with summer internship positions.
Harris believes the post-graduation environment right now “has shifted to a greater seriousness of purpose and intentional community building.”
Rivers said he didn’t experience any struggles in this year’s planning because he looks at this as an opportunity to share his expertise.
“When you know the joy of the student being able to have their degree conferred upon them at the final end, but then also seeing the smiles of the family and friends recognizing and taking homage of that achievement. That’s the joy,” he said.
To Rivers, a main goal in planning is to remember that this is a showcase.
“It’s a showcase for not only our family and friends to see, but remember, we’re live streaming this. So this is actually going to be viewed by many individuals in the United States and other countries all across this world,” he said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
