I attended the commencement ceremonies at CSUB today, and was disappointed in the experience.  How sorry I am to say so; I love my local university, from which I graduated and continue to attend today, but I feel I must call the administration on this matter. 

The commencement speech, made by Dr. Horace Mitchell, whom I like, respect, and appreciate, was very disappointing.  I do not believe he wrote the speech himself, for I feel it sounded unprofessional and inappropriate.  The speech focused too much on recent events of the past month, including the economic crisis and the election of Senator Obama to the presidency, but appeared to address the graduates as an afterthought.  I feel commencement speeches should not be recaps of the news, but rather messages of inspiration and hope for the graduates.  In my opinion, the speech was very substandard in that regard. 

I am fairly certain Dr. Mitchell did not write the speech, because I believe he is far more capable and intelligent than to knowingly deliver such a poorly crafted speech.  It is my imagining the speech was composed by an aide or staff member within the president's office.  This does not concern me, since it is normal for busy people to have their speeches composed for them, but I believe if the venerable doctor had wrote the speech for himself, or spent time considering its content prior to the commencement, I do not feel he would have delivered it.  I believe he could have done better delivering impromptu commentary to the graduates.

The remainder of the ceremony appeared hurried and poorly executed, and substandard even in comparison with some local high school graduations.  The theme from "The Right Stuff" played as the graduates exited, it had the right message, but I feel it was too trite for the occasion.

I felt sorry for the graduates--I feel they deserved better for their efforts. 

I am pained to be so critical, but I strongly feel the graduates deserved better and I hope CSUB revisits their ceremonial practices and invests more time, money, and energy in providing a commencement which is commensurate with the quality of education and the efforts of the students found there. 

Did anyone else on here attend?  Agree or disagree?  How did the event make you feel?

MP