Posted on 05/12/2024 6:53:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Nope, it's not what you think. It wasn't pro-Hamas protesters—this time.
We’ve seen anti-Israel protests at several graduations, and we’ve seen commencement ceremonies canceled altogether as some universities bent their knee to the demonstrators—but we haven’t seen this before.
A graduation ceremony for nursing students at Howard University in Washington D.C. was canceled right in the middle of the keynote address Thursday as furious parents who were locked out due to capacity issues pounded on the doors and even smashed a window.
It was a chaotic scene:
1 hurt in chaos after Howard University nursing graduation ceremony reaches maximum capacity 📹: @Dream_Girl_MG https://t.co/BEL54p8OVJ pic.twitter.com/v82nASe5b9— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) May 10, 2024
The tensions flared because the venue simply wasn’t large enough for all the families who came to watch their loved ones walk the stage. There was at least one injury:
Loved ones of students in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences packed into the Cramton Auditorium in Washington, DC, on Thursday, but not all relatives made it inside the building before the ceremony was abruptly canceled during the keynote address.
Chaotic video footage shows dozens of people standing outside the auditorium chanting “Let us in! Let us in!” as the ceremony began. Pictures showed a glass door had been shattered during the commotion as people banged on the doors and tried to push past security to go inside.
Students, many of whom may have missed their high school graduations in 2020 because of COVID, were heartbroken:
Howard dropped the ball@ CNAS graduation. Due to poor planning many ppl didn’t get in n Ppl who traveled from over 30 states didn’t get to see their students graduate. After being rightly outraged, HU shut down the ceremony and blamed it on the families. Sick. #HowardUniversity pic.twitter.com/1ZZas4aDcY— Ms. Rinnie (@TrimothyJoe) May 10, 2024
One grad explained what happened:
“While they were doing the keynote speaker, there was, like, loud banging, even before that, for like 10 minutes straight,” graduate Bria Flowers told NBC Washington. “Just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.”
Another grad said, “I’m confused why it got so crazy, how it got so quick, so bad so fast.” At least one administrator seemed to blame the families:
School officials told students and their families mid-ceremony that the fire department had come to shut things down.
“Because of the size of the room and because our relatives sometimes do not know how to act, the fire department is now here to shut us down,” Dr. Gina S. Brown, dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, said to a roaring response of boos.
This mother's day weekend Howard University shutdown graduation and blamed the families instead of taking accountability for poor planning. What did you expect when you have the largest graduating class and no headcount limit per graduate. Let them walk at commencement! pic.twitter.com/PipTkmr7D1— Dee (@darling_daphney) May 10, 2024
The fire department clapped back, however, and said it wasn't them who shut things down:
“D.C. Fire and EMS did not shut down tonight’s event,” the department said. “At 6:42 p.m., we responded to the Cramton Auditorium for a medical local at the request of campus police. The patient was evaluated and refused transport, and D.C. Fire and EMS departed.”
I would never condone rioting and have been quite outspoken about the pro-Hamas zealots, but I know that I'd be pretty darn upset if I'd come across the country—possibly with multiple family members—only to be told that I couldn't watch my kid get his degree.
Somebody in the administration needs to either find a new job or learn to plan better, because this was an unfortunate outcome for all involved. Have they not heard of outdoor ceremonies or taking reservations?
See also:
Devil With a Palestinian Flag: Duke Students Walk Out of Graduation As Jerry Seinfeld Introduced
Poor Boo-Boo.
It’s his fault.
Honestly, the school needed to pick a bigger venue, given the fact many of these students and their families were denied a normal graduation because of the plandemic. It should have been easily, a long time ago, been factored into the choice of location.
“Because our relatives sometimes do not know how to act.....”
Yep. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Dog bites man.
Apes riot over nothing.
A result of profoundly poor planning and lack of preparation for what should have been expected.
Why invite all these families there if your venue lacks the holding capacity? How dumb can one get?
These are people who have looked forward to this ceremony for a long time, some, for several years. Now, you’re going to play games for who does or does not get to enter?
DEI.
I watched the footage and was expecting a hockey game to break out.
“no head count limit per graduate…” I wonder…Maybe we’ll find out in due course what really happened.
Every local High school in DC has to hold graduations at larger venues. This is standard in the DC area. This was no mistake someone tried to cut corners or dropped the ball on securing a larger venue. I hope parents are reimbursed for their inconvenience for this incompetence.
No need to look, eh?
Kamala”s alma mater.
EC
They should have had it on Fathers Day
Not enough information is given. Often only parents are invited to graduation. Was this the case when the whole family insisted on entering?
As a gesture of kindness to my parents, I did not attend my final graduation. How many graduations must one attend to know that they are stupefyingly boring?
I had my doctoral diploma mailed to my home.
Normally the college gives each graduate a set number of tickets, eight, ten, twelve, fifteen, however many.
# graduates x tickets per, gives you the max seating coaapocity needed!
When we attended graduations for our son and several nephews, we had tickets. Were unticketed people taking up the space or trying to attend?
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