Save Tulane Engineering

[wckirby]

Graduation was today (YAY! I'm a graduate!!!). Some interesting things happened that I wanted to report on, though.

* At the very beginning of Unified Commencement (or as some of the faculty call it, ScottFest), Cowen was BOOED!!! Not by the students, either. Most engineering students just sat their with their arms folded, like I did. He was booed by the parents! It was pretty shocking. The next couple of times he got up, you could tell he was worried about getting booed again and it threw him off his game. Trust me, I've seen 5 commencements and he was thrown off balance by his initial reception. After the first time, no more fireworks, though.

* When Newcomb and Engineering (the schools) were announced, the applause was overwhelming. Once again, everyone was a little bit shocked.

* The student speaker did a fantastic job. Really played up the life-lessons angle of life at Tulane.

* Bush gave a pretty good speech, but he was put to shame by Clinton. That's not a knock on Bush, either. He did a good job, it's just Clinton was amazing. It was a real treat. Beat that, Harvard!!!

* Ellen Degeneres (native New Orleanian) was the surprise guest. She came out in a bath robe and said, "So, how many of y'all are as hung over as I am." It was great.

* Engineering commencement was actually pretty depressing. Everyone played up, 'you're the last class in the 112 year history of Tulane Engineering.' The Renewal Plan hung over the ceremony like the Sword of Damocles. There was just no getting away from it.

* Altiero gave a short and sweet speech. Nothing special, but he did say, "Oh yeah, and your diploma has your major written on it so you'll remember it in 20 years." Nice little rip.

* By far the most shocking thing was the speech by the head of the 100 year (for engineering) anniversity board president. He implored the graduates to play an active role in re-establishing the engineering school at Tulane. When he heard that, Altiero did that bug-eyed thing he does. Dr. Bruce was inducted into the engineering hall of fame and given a medal. The guy (whose name just slips my mind - someone want to fill it in?) played up the class on 2006 being the last and the best. What was really shocking was he also (in a completely surprising move) inducted Alteiro into the hall and gave him a medal. I'm not going to say one way or another whether it was a good move, but I will say it turned some heads. Some people (not to mention any specific names) were appauled.

* On the whole, I thought the whole afternoon ceremony was a big downer. The whole ceremony was tense. I wonder about how Newcomb's went?
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06

[TUgradstudent]

Are you kidding? I thought Bush was much better than Clinton. I thought Clinton was good, don't get me wrong, but I was surprised by how much better Bush was than Clinton.