To the ASU Administration:

Thank you for once again reminding me that the University's image is much more important than those students who make up the body of its campus. May 14th of this year was to be the high point of my husband's university education. He was scheduled to graduate with his doctorate. A pinnacle that took him 13 years of higher education to reach. We have been dreaming about this day for years. This was to be a day for our family to celebrate this huge accomplishment. Not only the five of us in our family, but also our parents and his siblings, who have been our support system through these years of dedication.

All of us have had this day marked on our calendars for almost a complete year. That is until the university decided to make the day "better" or more "memorable" by inviting President Barack Obama to address the graduates. Oh, by the way, Mr. President can't make it to graduation on May 14th, so of course everyone will be glad to change their graduation schedule to May 13th with less than two months to go till graduation to accomodate the President's busy schedule. Never mind that some of us have already bought plane tickets that conflict with the new time. Did we also mention that now graduates can only have a maximum of 6 guests at commencement because everybody and their dog would like to attend commencement now? Forget about the fact that before there was no limitation to the number of guests, just remember that you get to hear the President. This ticket limitation is also for the doctoral candidates who will be hooded and receive their diplomas at this ceremony. And... as in my husband's case, this is the only graduation ceremony that he will have because the School of Business does not recognize their doctoral candidates in their school graduation.

So now we have to choose which of our loving family members will be able to witness my husband walk across the stage to receive his diploma. Let's see, there's me and my three children, his parents, my parents, and his sister and husband. Oops, that's ten! Excuse us for having a large and supportive family.

Thank you ASU administration for reminding me that commencement is all about the big name speaker and has nothing to do with the graduates. Wait, what was this ceremony for anyway?