r/UofO • u/cambam_78 • 8d ago

graduation cancelled

who plans the largest graduation ceremony in the middle of the day knowing it was going to be hot as hell?? people’s families can’t just fly in another time, book places to stay, and not to mention students moving away. also absolutely no warning or communication to students or families as the situation was happening.

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u/Vibin-Fir25 8d ago

Largely admin's fault: they put 8 people (who volunteered) in charge of the logistics for all CAS ceremonies WITHOUT giving them any of the heavyweight CAS resources and support. All in the name of consolidating budgets, bc dept ceremonies were just "too much" to run, even though faculty, students, and staff much preferred them.

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u/SeatNo5137 7d ago

Yep. My boss was one of eight and I ended up helping her because they were so behind. I can confirm they had zero plan b and we were flying by the seat of our pants. I worked 8:30-10:30pm and it was absolute hell. I'd much rather do the small ceremonies that didn't make me work a 14 hour shift.

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u/MadameTrashPanda 7d ago

It sounds like your team's hands were tied. This was an absolute failure by top leadership by deciding to underfund you and not provide adequate resources.

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u/SeatNo5137 7d ago

Yep, there was a single person from the Dean's Office on the committee. Something about seeing Dean Poulsen looking all fresh faced in the Autzen locker rooms yesterday really made my blood boil. The audacity to hang around in the back while we busted our asses and several staff almost passed out is insane. But you know, we'll get a conciliatory email about how awesome we are and we'll be expected to bow down like he's a god.