<p>Today they held the Barnard commencement exercises. The arrangements and timing were wonderful. Student speakers were organized, on message and frankly wonderful. Spar and Clinton were superb and incorporated material from the students and deans in their presentations. It all ended on time. Receptions were great. Pedestrian control and wheel chair handling were a little off, but it gives them something to work on.</p>
<p>I concur. I was moved and impressed. And not just with our daughters’ accomplishments. Made me so very proud to have been a part of this tradition!</p>
<p>As a feminist, I was moved beyond words. I was so proud of all our daughters, of the administrators of Barnard, of our Secretary of State, and of the women in the audience.</p>
<p>There was a noticeable lack of ego and pomposity, perhaps in part due to the absence of male authority.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom: I saw your beautiful daughter graduate.</p>
<p>mardad: Drat. I missed yours, but found her on facebook. What a lovely woman.</p>
<p>I was shamelessly weeping through most of it. So very proud!</p>
<p>Thanks, mythmom! Will you also be at the to-do on Wednesday? I am also looking forward to that!</p>
<p>Mia asked us to come, but we are skipping the ceremony and coming in right afterwards. As a college professor, I go to graduations all the time, and it will be really crowded.</p>
<p>You must have liked Prez Spar giving special recognition to neuro-science majors.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all your daughters!</p>
<p>Yes, it was pretty funny. Interesting that there are 60, I think, neruosci majors! One of the larger groups, actually. </p>
<p>Calmom, I tend to really anticipate things…you know, to fall asleep (and you can tell by the times I sometimes post that this is an issue sometimes) I dream about how great it will be. Well, most often the actual event ends up falling a bit short of those imaginings. Not this time. Not at all. So spend the next year dreaming…you will NOT be disappointed! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the congratulatory wishes…</p>
<p>Thank you calmom. Soon it will be your D’s turn. In the blink of an eye.</p>
<p>What a touching, meaningful event for all of you…thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>
Actually, I hate graduation-type ceremonies. I don’t like the crowds, I don’t sitting still listening to people drone on, etc— so I am dreading, not dreaming. Of course I will be attending, but I prefer not to think about it until it is time to make the plane reservations.<br>
(Yes… I’ll go… but I didn’t bother to attend my own college graduation, so that’s a good indication of how I feel about those things)</p>
<p>In case you didn’t know – the ceremony was filmed and can be viewed online:
[Commencement</a> 2009: Webcasts](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ceremonies/commencement/docs/events/webcasts/index.html]Commencement”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ceremonies/commencement/docs/events/webcasts/index.html)</p>
<p>LOL, Calmom! yeah, I knew it was filmed. Actually, my oldest son and his wife watched it streaming live online as they are new parents and were unable to attend. </p>
<p>I don’t think the University-wide ceremony today will be nearly as fun as the Barnard “Class Day” was on Monday. Not that you will want to watch it, but you could check out how amazing the student speakers were and, of course, it was exciting to have our Nation’s Secretary of State as the class day speaker. </p>
<p>Neither of my boys attended their college graduations either. Huge state university with no individual recognition of students. Barnard somehow managed to personalize it and I am thrilled that we came!</p>
<p>As expected, I got bored watching the film. My daughter watched – from Russia! – and tried to convince me to watch so I could see her best friend graduate. I notice that they called the graduates in the order of their majors, in alphabetical order. Lucky for Mythmom! (I think her daughter majored in American Studies). But I didn’t have the patience to watch the whole procession – I told my d. that I would look at her friend’s picture on facebook instead. :)</p>
<p>I’m sure I would have a little bit more patience when my own daughter is graduating next year… but not much. I used to sneak into her dance recitals just about the time when I thought her class would dance and then sneak right out again, and if she was in dance productions that had multiple performances of the same show – well, I’d attend once or twice but I managed to skip a lot of performances too.</p>
<p>I didn’t attend my college graduation (or high school for that matter.) I should have because I got Departmental Honors and was called for an award. I’d had no idea.</p>
<p>My advisor told me she’d never talk to me again if I didn’t go when I was hooded with m PhD. So, eight months pregnant, I waddled up, wide in my gown.</p>
<p>Well, we attended the University wide ceremony today and it was, well, impressive is the kind thing to say about it. Actually, they did a fantastic job of getting a bazillion people into the campus (slight exaggeration) in an orderly fashion and indeed the place was impressively covered with people. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and we all got nicely cooked on our starboard sides while President Bolinger spoke and spoke and spoke (his address and then wordy tributes to the recipients of honorary degrees and honored alums (including Barnard alums…and YES including Barnard alums who have graduated since CC began admitting women). Then the deans and presidents of each of the University’s institutions stepped up and asked Presbo to grant degrees to the students who had earned them with some trying to out-clever the others and the students of each institution waving/throwing various applicable things ie apples for CC/the “core”; newspapers for the Journalism school; big inflatable hammers for SEAS; and gummy bears and teddy grahams for Barnard [bears]. </p>
<p>I am glad we went, but I certainly did not enjoy it as much as I did the Barnard class day ceremony. Any way, my d is now an official Barnard College graduate and if anyone needs to hear details about what it says on a Columbia University/Barnard College degree, I can get you the exact translation of the Latin. :)</p>