As students, there are many things that we let slide out of our grasp. Rent steadily increases, the MSC is always overcrowded, the football stadium still hasn’t been renovated, and tuition is rising. After spending four to five years at this elite university, you would think that the administration would allow seniors to voice their opinions when it comes to choosing a graduation speaker. Graduation plays a significant role in the majority of our lives and every senior is overwhelmed with excitement when this day arrives.
As a graduating senior, I am highly upset with the way that graduation continues to run. First and foremost, student input should play a vital role in the graduation process. The student voices on the graduation committee are the SGA president and Mr. and Miss Prairie View. These three people are not properly informed of the meetings. Secondly, no students are on the program to speak at graduation. When have you been to a graduation with no students on the program? If anything the SGA president or senior class president should give a farewell to fellow students.
Lastly, and most importantly, Prairie View has chosen Dr. Joahanne Thomas-Smith as this year’s speaker. No disrespect, but this is the same lady that sits on the stage at every general assembly, the same lady that works in the administration, and the same lady that we hear talk constantly!
While other universities are booking Bill Cosby, Nikki Giovanni, and Martin Luther King, III, we are letting our administrators, who we see all the time, speak. Nothing against Dr. Thomas- Smith, but I feel jipped. We have more power than you think.
Stand up Prairie View for what you want. If you think this is only for graduating seniors, you are wrong. If you don’t stand up now, who will be speaking at your graduation? Mrs. Raab? Or maybe Ms. Simmons? Raise your voices.