Northwestern’s Commencement has been held in searing heat and driving rain, in chilly weather and in sun, but none in the school’s history has been quite like the 162nd Commencement on Friday.
Held virtually due to ongoing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Northwestern’s Commencement brought together the graduating class of 2020 — from all corners of the world — in an online celebration of tremendous achievement, albeit amid the most difficult of circumstances, including a global pandemic and an equally global push for racial justice.
In her keynote address, Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot acknowledged both the staggering impact of the forces shaping the world — and the opportunities they present, urging the graduates to seize the moment by heeding the call to serve. She told them that now, more than ever, it is important to “be at the table.”
“These past 12 weeks have been hard, and recent weeks perhaps even harder,” she said. “We’ve all been through a lot. But through this struggle we’ve seen that there’s no shortcut to making things better, and there’s not one thing that turn things around.”
The Mayor urged graduates to “put yourself in the place where your voice and talent can be felt. And do your part to serve the public — to serve us.”
Thousands attended the 75-minute ceremony virtually, which honored 6,294 students who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees. A livestream of the event was broadcast to viewers around the world and remains available for replay.
The virtual ceremony meant graduates, their families and the community could not gather in person. But that did not prevent them from gathering online to create special moments. A rousing rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance” opened the ceremony, performed — remotely — by Northwestern musicians who played beautifully together, despite being apart.
The ceremony closed with an equally moving performance by the Bienen Contemporary Early Vocal Ensemble of the University Alma Mater, first in Latin and then in English.
In between, students and their families posted congratulatory notes on social media and posted pictures in their regalia online.
For the University and for the graduates, it was a historic moment in many important ways. Northwestern President Morton Schapiro called it a “commencement unlike the 161 that came before it,” noting that the pandemic made it impossible to gather in person. He also noted that the ceremony came “amid one of the most turbulent periods in our nation’s history, as we grapple with fundamental truths regarding racism and anti-blackness.”
President Schapiro spoke poignantly of how Commencement was held on Juneteenth, a day honoring the moment on June 19, 1865, when freedom from slavery was finally announced to the last corner of the nation.
“That was two-and-a-half long years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect,” he said. “It is a reminder that the hard work of freedom and justice is endless.”
The President acknowledged that the final weeks of the graduates’ time at Northwestern were not a time of celebration, but rather a time of crisis.
“The world needs your leadership more than ever, and I have confidence that you will rise to the occasion,” President Schapiro said. “Congratulations to all of you. I salute you and am proud to help recognize your extraordinary achievements.”
He then specifically recognized the achievements of first-generation graduates.
“I hope you and your loved ones take special pride in what you have achieved,” he said.
