Host intro: The coronavirus pandemic is raging across the United States. The Department of Labor announced that more than 10 million people filed for unemployment within the first two weeks of the coronavirus shut-downs. New York State, the new epicenter of the world, has officially been shut down for approximately a month. More than 195,000 people have been infected within the State. One question still remains amongst Baruch’s Class of 2020: But what about graduation? Many soon-to-be graduates are sitting at their computers in angst. While adjusting to remote classes, students anxiously wonder about how their lives will be affected, from their families to the job market and commencement. Reporter Nadia Khan interviews two members of the Class of 2020 and the Director of Student Life.
AMBI: Sounds at Jay’s house (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)
AMBI: Room tone (LAYER UNDER TRACK)
ACT: JAY: My name is Jay Park. I go to Baruch College and I am graduating in 2020.
TRACK: For Jay, the worst part about the pandemic is having to stay home.
ACT: JAY: I hate being home but now I don’t have a choice. This was the first couple years that I had the freedom to go out. I feel like me being home is me having to build that up with my parents all over.
TRACK: Among the things that were taken from her because of the pandemic, she talks about softball.
ACT: JAY: School is not a thing anymore. I was really excited for this semester because it was my last semester and I had my last season of softball. Being a senior on a team can get your perks. You have senior day. You have the banquet. Basically all the years you spent working towards that sport is leading up to your senior night moment. It’s just hard and frustrating because not everybody gets it.
TRACK: Here we have Shehtaz Chowdhury, another senior from Baruch College. When asked about the effects of the pandemic, her first answer is graduation.
ACT: SHEHTAZ: Obviously, my whole graduation is thrown off. I imagined I would be here in four years but everything is different than I expected it to look. I came halfway across the world for college. This is literally my core purpose of why I’m here. So for me to go through my four years and finally execute everything, this has been the milestone that I’ve been waiting for.
TRACK: In fear of contracting the virus, Shehtaz has been using up all of her paid time off to stay home. Shehtaz works in a bank, which is listed as one of the essential businesses by New York State’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo.
ACT: SHEHTAZ: I’m using all of my paid time off to not go to work for as long as I can. Afterwards, when I run out of them, I don’t know what I’m really going to do. I’m actually worried about my safety. Personally, I don’t have the greatest immune system and I get sick very often.
TRACK: On top of these concerns, Shehtaz notes that she is worried about the kind of job market she will be graduating into.
ACT: SHEHTAZ: My whole job process is unstable because nobody’s hiring right now and I don’t know what kind of economy I’ll be graduating into. That makes me nervous.
TRACK: On April 3, 2020, CUNY’s Office of the Chancellor released an e-mail stating that “commencement ceremonies across the University-system will be postponed”. Baruch has yet to tell students what that means for their commencement ceremony, which usually takes place at Barclay’s Center. Here we have Damali Tolson, the Director of Student Life. In collaboration with the President’s Office, Ms. Tolson is the primary planner for graduation ceremony. Since the outbreak, Student Life’s first concern has been the safety of their students.
ACT: DAMALI: We’ve had a lot of students in crisis emotionally but we’ve also spent the first few weeks trying to get student resources. We have a lot of students who have been putting in for emergency funding because they’ve lost their jobs. Their parents have lost their jobs. There’s just been a lot happening so we’re trying to make sure students are physically okay and emotionally okay.
TRACK: As for the commencement ceremony, Baruch is in the process of putting together a virtual graduation experience to be held on the original date of commencement, June 8, 2020.
ACT: DAMALI: We are one of the largest commencements at CUNY. We have about 20,000 attendees so we are very limited in when and where we can have our commencement. Barclay’s is one of the only places where we can have one commencement ceremony indoors. With the WNBA and the NBA being delayed until the fall, we just don’t see when the league will allow us to hold a commencement date. We’re going to be at the bottom of the totem pole and we don’t want students to not have a celebration of all they’ve worked for.
TRACK: Student Life is currently brainstorming how to make this virtual experience more palatable for the Class of 2020.
ACT: DAMALI: We have some fun, interesting things up our sleeves. We’re working with a vendor where students will have the ability to maybe see their names called, which we don’t get to do in person since we have 3500 students participate. We’re not going to try to have the same exact commencement online because that won’t work.
TRACK: Since the duration of the coronavirus pandemic and its long-term effects on large gatherings are uncertain, Baruch College is unable to predict when they would be able to hold a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020. The Office of Student Life aims to hand out diplomas in the fall and hopes to give graduates one last time to say goodbye to the campus. For Baruch College, I’m Nadia Khan.
