The Mission

Saying that there are a lot of moving parts to Commencement is a bit like saying that winning a Nobel Prize is good for one's career: it's understatement bordering on cluelessness. Fact is, representatives from all aspects of campus life work for months to pull this off, and their efforts have resulted in both this weekend of events and, to help manage it, a mega spreadsheet that takes into account every "i" that needs dotting, every "t" that needs to be crossed and whatever other serifs, loops and dips one should account for before daring to turn in work to The Most Stern Teacher You Ever Had.

I have seen this spreadsheet -- held it in my hands, even -- and it is extraordinary: reminders to clean seats, paint fire hydrants if necessary, place "reserved seating signs as indicated by X's on SK-2" (any relation to that mountain in the Himalayas?), time cues for details such as when to open specified windows to ensure that the behind-the-stage photographer gets the shot and then gets out of view. And on it goes, page after page after page of detail.

Which is as it should be: imagine throwing a party for 4,000 of your closest friends, all of whom have been looking forward to this day for years. Decades. Entire lifetimes. This is a big day by any standard; by comparison, planning a wedding looks easy.

So many players and so many parts invites an orchestral analogy. And if you think of our Commencement as a symphonic performance, the conductor is Violet Brown, Director of External Relations. Here she is with the gowns that will be worn by our Board of Managers and Honorary Degree recipients:


As you can see from the embroidery, this particular gown will be worn by Freeman Hrabowski:


Should she ever tire of working at the 'ford, she will easily find employment as, say, Campaign Manager for a major party presidential candidate, or Chief Engineer for a mission to Mars. Cool, focused, determined -- and, three days til ignition, still smiling -- you couldn't find a more capable leader for the mission.