Petition Update

Well, the petition made it through the first round of committees. It first went through the worship and convocation committee, but they didn't get to decide anything about it in terms of implementation, they just voted on where they stood so they could pass it along to the faculty along with their recommendations. They had four categories of voting, and here is how it played out:

1) Keep the awards presentation at the graduation ceremony (i.e., change nothing): 4 votes.
2) Move the presentation of awards to the night before, after the baccalaureate service: 5 votes.
3) Have no verbal recognition of awards, and put a written insert in the graduation bulletin: 3 votes.
4) Abstention: 2 votes. (That this was even an option kind of blows my mind.)

To me, it's a good sign, because options 2 and 3 both see the need for a change in how the awards are presented--and together they have twice as many as option 1. But really, since this isn't the final word or anything, it really will rest with the faculty. Hopefully though, they will take seriously the thoughts of this committee that a change might be beneficial, and will take seriously that at least half of the graduating class also sees the need for a change. Anyway, I have now washed my hands of this, and I leave it to the powers (and Powers) that be.