VTC Graduation Will Move To Norwich U.

VTC Graduation Will Move To Norwich U.

Vermont Technical College will move its commencement ceremony from the Randolph Center to the Norwich University Field House this year, VTC President Ty Handy confirmed this week.

Vermont Technical College will move its commencement ceremony from the Randolph Center campus to the Norwich University Field House this year, VTC President Ty Handy confirmed this week.

The ceremony will be Saturday, May 19 at 1 p.m.

The reasons for the move, Handy said, were threefold, encompassing capacity, weather problems, and safety.

He acknowledged that he has heard a few complaints about the change but said that most everyone has agreed with the decision when it was explained to them. He also stressed that "If I could, I would hold it here (on campus) in a heartbeat. This is a one-year experiment."

President Handy noted that last year’s graduating class of 350 students attracted a crowd of 1800 people under a tent on the "front lawn." Not all of them fit under the tent, he said, as the space will hold a tent for only 1600 people.

He also noted that in four of the last five years, the VTC commencement was held under inclement weather conditions, including rain, snow, wind, and thunder and lighting.

Last year, the grounds were very muddy, he said. "We fielded lots of complaints from elderly and wheel chair people, who were afraid they’d fall and hurt themselves."

Finally, he recalled the graduation in Grand Isle County several years ago in which a tent blew down, killing one person and injuring several. One of those who was injured at that time is a student graduating from VTC this year.

Handy said that he has received notice from the parents that neither they nor the student would attend graduation if it is held in a tent. Handy agrees that safety is a problem.

"Bottom line, we had to find another location," he concluded. The largest indoor facility at VTC seats only 700, so that each student could invite only one parent. Holding it outside, but without a tent, seemed like a bad idea.

In search of solutions, Handy and his wife attended Norwich University’s commencement last year at the field house, which seats 4000 and is, he said, a "pleasant environment." The Community College of Vermont also holds its commencement there.

A final consideration is that though VTC’s main campus is in Randolph Center, the college has several important programs scattered through Vermont, especially at its Blair Park campus in Williston.

In fact, he noted, more than a third of the graduates this year will have gone to college in other locations. For them, Randolph Center "isn’t the home location in their minds," he pointed out.

Although he said that most complaints have been ironed out when he explained the reasons, one person was sufficiently upset to write to every student, criticizing the change. Some of the students wrote back, telling him there were good reasons, Handy said.

He repeated that he would like graduation to return to Randolph at some point, but the capacity problem will continue—enrollment was up 7% this fall, and VTC is adding four new degree programs next year.