An estimated 20,000 jubilant and harried people are gathering here. There are the familiar droning bagpipes, the Lusitana Band of Cumberland in its spiffy navy uniforms, the color-coded doctoral gowns and hoods of the faculty, the mortarboards and velvet caps and floppy beefeaters. Somehow, everyone finds a place in line amid laughter and confusion. Yet for all its tradition, each Commencement manages to be new. Alumni who return for reunions find the graduating class looks younger and younger until, astonishingly, the seniors are the same age as their children, then their grandchildren.
Mortarboards are canvases for individual expression amid the mass of black robes.
Every year the cere-mony on the Green has a few unique twists. In 1996 it was the Jumbotron, a giant screen set up near Slater Hall to broadcast the indoor proceedings to eager parents on the Green. This year's Commencement is notable for being President Vartan Gregorian's grand finale. His imminent departure lends a special poignancy to the day. When he isn't waving, Gregorian is hugging or shaking hands.