Note: this post was written by Cole McCann-Phillips (COL ’23), who participated in the Summer 2020 project to transcribe the first two volumes of the Penn Trustees Minutes.
Citing fear of the growing Coronavirus pandemic, and the inherent risks associated with families traveling from all over the nation and the world, the University of Pennsylvania announced in mid-March that the 2020 commencement ceremony would be conducted online. Commencement, a time to share in celebration with friends and family, is an important hallmark in the life of a college senior, marking the beginning of their life as a Penn alumnus. Today, the commencement ceremony is an event that allows the University to invite famous authors, politicians, and public intellectuals to share their words of wisdom with the graduating class. In the early days of the University, however, the commencement ceremony served as the fundamental link between the University and the wider world. It was a rare opportunity for the public to see the fruits of the education that was contained within the College of Philadelphia, which in 1779 would become the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of “University.”
“a short Oration with his Book in his hand”
A Plan of the Commencement was taken into Consideration and a-
greed to, viz. that it be opened on Tuesday the 17th of May next at 9 o’Clock
with the Church Prayers read by Mr. Peters, to be followed by a Sermon
adapted to the Occasion by the Provost, a Salutatory Oration by Mr.
Jackson in Latin, one Thesis to be defneded which closes the forenoon.
In the Afternoon to begin at half an hour past 2 o’Clock with a
short Prayer, after which three more Theses to be defended, and the De-
grees to be conferred. Each Graduate on receiving his Degree is to make a short Oration with his Book in his Hand, or at least as many as the Time will
admit. The last who takes a Degree to make the Salutatory Oration. To be
concluded by a Prayer by the Vice Provost.
In reading the Trustee’s minutes between 1749 and 1791, it becomes eminently clear that the commencement ceremony was a primary consideration of the Trustees. The first mention of the organization of a commencement ceremony is in 1757, but this first commencement would be unrecognizable to us today. It included four public thesis defenses, and each graduate was expected to give a short oration. While the holding of a college degree today serves to legitimize an alumnus’ entrance into the professional workforce, the early commencements served to legitimize the degrees themselves, offering proof of the quality of men that were granted degrees by the institution.
In 1759, on April 6, the College would begin to conduct public examinations of candidates for degrees during the commencement ceremony, offering the public first-hand proof of the veracity of the degree being conferred. Note that the examination of only seven students stretched over two days! They resemble what we might consider to be final exams. Only after the public presentations were deemed acceptable were degrees scheduled for delivery, but not until June:
A public Examination was held in the Presence
of the above Trustees, the Governor, several Strangers of
Distinction and many of the Citizens, when the under-nam’d Students were examin’d –
Samuel Powell Samuel Keene
William Paca Alexander Lawson
John Beard Nathaniel Chapman
William Edmiston
Saturday 7th April.
The Examination was continued and the Students having
acquitted themselves to the Satisfaction of the Trustees and all
present, it was the unanimous Opinion of the Trustees that they
shou’d be admitted to the first Degree of the Bachelor of
Arts; and that the Commencement should be held on the eighth
of June, and Notice be given thereof in the Gazette-
Commencing in a moment of Revolution
Eighteen years after the first commencement ceremony, in 1775, while the delegates of the Second Continental Congress convened at Independence Hall to consider the relationship between Great Britain and her colonies, they made the short trip to attend the commencement of the College of Philadelphia. On May 17th, 1775, a little bit more than a year before the Declaration of Independence, the delegates gathered in the hall of the College to witness the conferring of eleven degrees: eight Bachelors of Arts and three Masters of Arts. Notable in the ceremony was an oration by William Moore Smith, son of the first Provost of the College William Smith, on the Fall of Empires, and another “On Female Education.” In the Trustees minutes it is noted that “the Audience, no longer confining themselves to the usual silent Marks of applause given to Academical Exhibitions, broke forth into one loud and general Plaudit-a sure Testimony that the Sentiments delivered in those Exercises met with an Advocate in every Bosom.”
[…]other parts of the House being filled with as many of the most respecta-
ble Inhabitants of the City as could find Room. The Business the pro-
ceeded as follows, viz-
- Prayer, by the Provost-
- An Anthem was sung, accompanied with the Organ and other
instrumental Music. - Latin Salutatory Oration, de Amicita, by Henry Ridgley.
- On Female Education, by Francis Brown Sappington.
- Latin Syllogistic Dispute_ Utrum Detur Sensus Moralis?
Respondent William Moore Smith.
Opponents Benjamin Chew and John Mifflin. - On Ancient Eloquence, by Thomas Ennals.
- On Politeness, by John Mifflin.
- On the Fall of Empires, by William Moore Smith.
- The following Degrees were then conferr’d, as pr. Mandate_
Bachelors of Arts.
Benjamin Chew, Townsend Eden, Thomas Ennals, John Far-
rel, John Mifflin, Henry Ridgley, Francis Brown Sappington
and William Moore Smith_
Masters of Arts.
Samuel Armor, John Park and John Thomas_
Honorary Do. James Ross.
- A Dialogue in Verse, with two Odes set and performed
to music. The Speakers in the Dialogue were John
Farrel, Francis B. Sappington & William Moore Smith. - Valedictory Oration, by Benjamin Chew.
- Charge to the Graduates, by the Provost
- Concluding Prayer, by the Viceprovost
The different Exercises were heard with great […]
attention by a learned and candid Audience. But the Oration
on the Fall of Empires, and the concluding Part of the Valedic-
tory Oration, having express Reference to the present interesting
Situation of Public Affairs, & being moreover delivered with a
Fervor, Animation & Gracefulness of Elocution worthy of their
Subjects; the Audience, no longer confining themselves to the usual
silent Marks of applause given to Academical Exhibitions,
broke forth into one loud and general Plaudit—a sure
Testimony that the Sentiments delivered in those Exercises
met with an Advocate in every Bosom.
The Seminary is sensible of its obligations to the gentlemen
of Congress on this Occasion, who thought it not unworthy of
them, amidst their many arduous Concerns, to devote a few
Hours towards the Encouragement of youth in Literary Pursuits. [Trustees Minutes, 2:91-92]
This commencement is remarkable not only for the weight it carries historically, but also for the insight it sheds into the role of the commencement ceremony as the public face of the University. In a time before websites or college tours, when institutions of higher learning were gated refuges from the wider world, the commencement ceremony brought the city into the ivory tower, and filled the halls with “as many of the most respectable Inhabitants of the City as could find Room.” And as they listened to a discourse on the “fall of empires,” surely they reflected on their own moment, when revolutionary change was in the air.
As circumstances force the ceremonies and trappings of University life to occur online, it is important that we remember these first commencement ceremonies and their important role as a cultural and intellectual gathering place. As we sanitize our halls and offices, we should not sanitize our discourse. We should not shy away from politics or controversy. We also should not fear the disruptions of normal life, for this institution has endured far worse, and has emerged only stronger for it.