Why Do Schools Read Everyone’s Name at Graduation?
Updated at 5:30 p.m. ET on May 17, 2019.
It is a sacred academic tradition: Every year, before spring turns to summer, the relatives and loved ones of soon-to-be college graduates journey great distances and congregate in stadiums or on greens in order to … hear someone they don’t know recite the names of hundreds or even thousands of total strangers.
These gatherings are known as graduation ceremonies, and they have gotten really, really long. Commencement speakers tend to get the most attention during graduation season, but the widespread practice of reading every graduate’s name eats up a lot more time on ceremonies’ agendas. Given that it can take hours to get through every name, is this really a good use of everyone’s time?
The Atlantic reached out to the top 50 universities in the U.S. News &rankings, and all 45 that responded said they read graduates’ names. Most do so at school-specific ceremonies—for example, engineering graduates will have their names read at the engineering-school ceremony—and not during a university-wide commencement.
