Thank you, NYT. Would love to see many more. Truly enjoyed the creativity and the backstory of each. Encouraging to see so many pursuing environmental-related studies/jobs.
Does one buy these gowns with mortar board? Rent them? or get to use them for free and return them?
Unless they are the personal property of the graduate, I find it rather upsetting that they would make changes to what is not their property.
I received my MA and Ph.D wearing a button down shirt, casual slacks and sandals (hot in the Middle East and my university wisely got rid of gowns).
Over the years, in a university that still uses gowns, I refused to wear them (as a Dean for a while I had no choice, but even then did not use the mortar board hat).
Good luck to the graduates. Those interviewed were of a high level, but university does not need relics of the Middle Ages.
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Yes. One buys the mortar boards and gowns.
I was one of the students featured here--at my school we are required to purchase caps, gowns, and tassels ourselves. Also, not all of the decorations are permanent--I used a piece of black scrapbook paper as the base for my decorations so they could be easily removed, and many friends who decorated their caps did so by printing out the design on heavy duty paper and attaching it to the caps.
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@Brynna Bargfield I for one am glad you did. I enjoyed seeing the autobiography that you created for your mortarboard. It’s wonderful. Congratulations to you!
Ahhh...unbridled optimism!
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I remember when my high school principal made me remove my graduation cap because I had created a design on it. This was 1987. Nice to see that schools are now embracing this artistic endeavor!
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Making America Authentic Again.
Be a teacher.
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Glad to see so many going for intellectual broadening and deepening rather than just safe majors.
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I find it curious that the article included a cap that shared a (rather dull and predictable) pro-Republican political statement, but no caps that spoke out against the injustice, violence against women, and general national and global debacle that has been the Trump administration. I can only imagine how many caps spoke to that theme!
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@Dr.OfNothing Bravo. After my first thought, which was that the student missed the whole point of education, that was my 2nd thought.
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@Dr.OfNothing She seems very proud of herself. I wonder whether she ever examined her beliefs, or whether she refused to do so in order to "own the libs."
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Am I the only curmudgeon left who believes that this indecorous and self-indulgent ornamentation is an insult to a solemn thousand-year-old ceremony, as well as to the professors who taught and the families who raised these students?
There were a handful of these at my undergrad commencement in 1991, generally worn by students who thought they were better than everyone else, and who wanted to display that fact as loudly as possible.
It seems it's not enough to simply be who you are and be good at what you do anymore - you have to inflate your own importance and uniqueness, as though you are selling a brightly colored hyper-sweetened breakfast cereal.
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@Eric. You’re entitled to view it that way. When my son graduated HS he chose not to decorate his mortarboard at all. In contrast, my nieces in subsequent years decorated their with the colors and insignias of their respective colleges and were quite festive.
The kids featured here are engaging in a celebration. I’m sure a lot of people feel that it’s not appropriate. That’s their prerogative.
Be who you are. To thine own self be true.
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I loved this and hope the Times makes it an annual feature. I love the creativity and seeing a very personal story told on each mortarboard.
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Poignant, funny, creative, artistic, lovely.
Thrills and frills and chills!
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I attended a commencement ceremony at the University of Missouri just around the time the state voted to essentially ban abortion.......but was proud and amazed to see mortarboards on many young women dedicated to reproductive rights.
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Hip hip hooray to the Lesley grad! Hope to see you at an alumni event sometime...
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I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972. A small group of us cut women’s symbols from white typing paper and taped them to the tops of our mortarboards. We looked great in the shot of the class from above, and thought we were very daring.
When I met up with my family later and my mother saw it she was embarrassed. “Take that thing off.” Still fighting for women’s equality.
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You go, Xander Mitchell!
(Hint: see my icon. In both senses of the word.)
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Seen at this year's City Colleges of Chicago's commencement: a decorated mortar board that read, "Future Mortician - I'm the last person to put a smile on your face!"
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Individualism and collectivism. All in one day!
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thank you for sharing these creative expressions😁
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