Last week, Florida State University announced their plans for the Spring 2020 commencement ceremony. Due to the current coronavirus pandemic and CDC guidelines, Florida State opted to cancel its' traditional graduation ceremony and will instead hold a virtual ceremony.

In the statement released by the university, they said they would continue with the traditions associated with a custom commencement ceremony which includes the opening processional, playing of the national anthem, and the turning of tassels. This virtual commencement ceremony would be led by the university president, John Thrasher, and other notable university administrators.

While this ceremony keeps most of the traditions seen throughout the typical ceremony, it lacks one important detail — the reading of graduates' names. In order to save time during the ceremony, the university has chosen not to read each graduates' name. Instead, the graduates' names will be included on a slide featured at the end of the ceremony. In their statement, Florida State said they made this decision due to the "time constraints" since they will be delivering all degrees in one programming. Graduates and their families look forward to hearing their names called and skipping this part due to time seems like an oversight on the university's part. These graduates have spent the last four years, looking forward to this very moment. By not reading the graduates' names, the university is denying them something they have spent working so hard towards. While the Spring class of 2020 might not be able to have a traditional ceremony, they still deserve to have each of their names recognized for the work they have dedicated themselves to over the last few years.

Since this announcement, many seniors have taken to social media to share their dissatisfaction with this decision. They even created a petition in order to have their names read at their graduation which is scheduled to take place on May 2nd. Florida State has yet to release a response to the students' outrage nor have they announced a change in the ceremony plans. As graduation gets closer, I believe the dissatisfaction will continue to grow amongst students and their families.

While the problems we face today are truly unprecedented, they will set a precedence for times to come. As a current sophomore at Florida State, I will say how disappointed I am by the university's choice to deny the graduating seniors the ability to hear their name called at their graduation ceremony. I am heartbroken for my friends who I know have worked so hard to reach this moment. I know I am not the only student who is sharing these feelings. I hope the university chooses to reverse this decision and ultimately gives each graduate the moment they deserve until then the students will continue to uphold our values of stewardship, community, and excellence that our university promised to uphold.