The last time Ryan Field hosted such a momentous event, the result was pandemonium – after the men in black and purple had racked up 54 points in a football game later deemed worthy of an ESPN Classic, Northwestern students tried unsuccessfully to tear down the goalposts and fans gathered in disbelief on the torn-up turf.
On Friday afternoon, a slightly more subdued crowd gathered at the same site to cheer on the black-clad students at NU’s 143rd Commencement.
This time, the jerseys were caps and gowns, the celebration occurred outside the stadium and the students scored a victory even more impressive than the crushing defeat of the Michigan football team – they earned NU diplomas.
“It’s over,” said relieved Weinberg ’01 Radhika Kumar. “I loved it here and I’m excited right now.”
Many graduates shared Kumar’s sentiments, hugging friends and relatives outside the stadium and turning the parking lot into what appeared to be a large Kodak commercial.
The commencement ceremony marked the official end of the academic year and the last few moments that many graduates would spend as students in Evanston.
The event brought together not only the current graduates, but also the graduating class of 1951 as part of the University’s Sesquicentennial celebration.
The ceremonies then continued into Saturday as each NU school held a separate convocation in which undergraduates heard their names read aloud and officially received their diplomas.
LAST NU MOMENTS
As the last rays of sun beamed down onto the pavement between McGaw Hall and the adjacent practice facility just before 6 p.m., ceremony participants awaited their cue to begin the march into the stadium. Many wore caps adorned with messages such as “go Sixers” or “01.” Others took their expression to the extreme, sporting red capes, a flashing red light, a tic-tack-toe board and a Frisbee.
Medill senior Chris Ward, who dressed his cap with red felt balls all around, threw confetti as he received his diploma at convocation.
“There are so many people out here,” said Ward, a former Daily photographer. “Everyone looks the same. You’ve got to be funny. I tend to be zany. When you can’t have fun being an idiot, how can you have fun?”
NU football star and Speech graduate Napoleon Harris had the same frame of mind, engaging in a touchdown celebration dance before accepting his diploma.
Another student snapped a picture of himself on stage just before the big moment, and a Weinberg graduate got a photograph with a police officer before being escorted out of Welsh-Ryan Arena for smoking during convocation.
Many NU students had more serious matters at hand, such as how to locate their friends and family amid the throng of their similarly dressed classmates.
“I’m walking through the gate right now,” one graduating senior barked into his cell phone. “I’m the one wearing a black cap and gown.”
During the ceremony, the energetic seniors often displayed the energy levels of freshmen during New Student Week. They waved, cheered and even jeered when it was revealed that University President Henry Bienen was rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
“I shouted very loudly, but we were swarmed by a Sixer contingency,” Ward said. “It’s nice to see some of these academia people aren’t stiff.”
Weinberg ’01 Roman Sloutsky was one of the least animated graduates of the day. He stood peering outside the practice facility, outfit void of artistic expression and face showing little evidence of excitement.
“I’m tired,” Sloutsky said. “This is the worst part of the week. Most of the time I spend with friends. I just want to get it over with. And I hope it doesn’t get too hot.”
Other graduates cherished the moment. Towering over the crowd, six-foot-something Jeff Anderson could see right into the stadium, where his wife and family awaited his arrival. Anderson, a 30-year-old biochemistry major, said he was ready for this day to come.
“I’ve enjoyed my three years here,” said Anderson, who plans to go into patent law. “I’m eager to get inside.”
A few minutes earlier, distinguished Northwestern personalities had gathered in the “N Room” of McGaw Hall, mingling and posing for ceremonial photographs.
Among the crowd were younger faces – two NU graduating seniors with roles in the upcoming ceremony. Education graduate Meaghen Foley had received a phone call from Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis asking her to introduce keynote speaker Scott Turow. After familiarizing herself with the author’s work, Foley said she was excited – and nervous – about taking the stage.
“There are so many things running through my head right now,” said Foley, who transferred to NU from the University of Colorado after her freshman year. “If I can just get through today, it’ll be all good for me. I did lots of public speaking in high school, but this is the largest crowd. I’ve gone from a state school to speaking at commencement. It’s unheard of.”
Medill graduate Keith Carter had his own agenda. Through leadership in campus organizations, he earned the right to address the crowd in a “message to parents and family.” Carter said that his father gave him inspiration and help throughout his college years.
Carter added that he wanted to give his fellow students a chance to share their appreciation.
Greeted with enthusiastic applause from his peers and shouts of, “that’s my brother,” from his proud sister sitting in the upper stands, Carter delivered his oration with poise.
“Without your support we wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” said Carter, who was greeted with hugs and kisses from family, friends and faculty outside the stadium. “How can we thank you for the number of times you sacrificed yourself for us? … We’ll continue on with tenacity and talent.”
WORDS OF WISDOM
Only an NU graduation could bring together talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and equally beloved sociology professor Charles Moskos. They were just two of the handful of guest speakers who gave seniors their final undergraduate lectures. Winfrey, who spent two years as a part-time professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, spoke inside the sweltering Welsh-Ryan Arena.
At the end of her speech, she offered to donate money to establish an air conditioning fund for the building.
Moskos, one of the nation’s leading advisers on military issues, received an equally warm greeting from the crowd of Weinberg students and family when he spoke at their convocation. In a lecture that harkened back to his popular Introduction to Sociology class, Moskos alluded to the future legacy of the newest graduates.
“Your generation started the rage of reality TV shows,” Moskos said. “That you are here today, it shows you are ‘Survivors.’ You are not the ‘Weakest Link.’ You are the New Great Generation … The smart money is your generation will confront a major world crisis within 10 years. You will triumph over this crisis, and you will be heroic.”
Moskos said that the weekend’s ceremonies should be called “intermission,” because about 80 percent of the class of 2001, as freshmen, said they would continue their studies. When Moskos asked the same question in his speech, most of the graduates raised their hands, indicating that they still intended to further their studies.
Moskos also graced the class with a little wisdom – cribbed from Winston Churchill – before leaving the stage.
“If you’re not radical in your 20s, you have no heart,” Moskos said. “If you’re radical in your 40s, you have no brain.”
Scott Turow, best-selling author and legal scholar, was the ceremony’s keynote speaker and one of five people to receive an honorary degree from NU.
“Many of my classmates thought the degree I got (in college) was honorary at best,” said Turow, who taught a writing class at NU in 1999. “At this moment I began to forget what I learned.”
Turow told graduates that the values formed during college are some of the most important in life.
“The root of inspiration is the time you’ve spent here,” Turow said. “You’re choosing the ideas to live by.”
Returning to th
e trend of family recognition, Speech convocation speaker Gloria Bond Clunie asked relatives to shout, “That’s my baby,” to the graduates.
Clunie continued the humor, saying that Northwestern brains are cheaper because they are used so much. She also said that according to her research, most graduates do not remember who spoke at their graduation, but rather how they felt during the ceremonies.
Therefore, she said, it is important for speakers to provide students with time to pause and reflect.
“This pause is important,” Clunie said. “Students will look around and think, ‘If this isn’t nice, what is?'”
Perhaps the most awkward moment of the commencement ceremony came when outgoing Medill School of Journalism Dean Ken Bode referred to his students as “Medilldos,” a common word used to describe the hardcore journalists in the school. However, many in the audience didn’t hear the first syllable, causing some perplexed and disgusted looks.
TIME TO REFLECT
With duties done and ceremonies completed, all that was left for NU graduates was to have fun and to reflect. Weinberg graduates Brian Sullivan and Luke Tamura chatted just outside the stadium after commencement. Both criticized the event.
“The band made several mistakes,” Sullivan said. “We were sitting close and everyone I knew heard (them).”
Tamura had more serious problems with the ceremony.
“It’s lots of show,” Tamura said. “I see it as more of a chore. It’s a rite of passage and I have no right to complain. My parents went through it and they wanted me to be here.”
Tamura said he didn’t think that students took the event seriously, and that he was looking forward to convocation, where he could see his friends and family and have his name read.
Walking toward the Ryan Field East parking lot, Canadian-born Education graduate Lindsay Wright had a more positive reaction.
“I enjoyed the ceremony,” said Wright, whose parents were visiting NU for the first time. “It was short and to the point. It meant a lot to have my parents here.”
