An Alternative Commencement Event to celebrate New College’s 2023 graduating students, spread joy, and cherish our resilient community.
What is [NEW] Commencement?
[NEW] Commencement: On Our Terms was an alternative commencement ceremony for the New College Class of 2023, planned by graduating students organizers and supported by the Novo Collegian Alliance. The event was held from 6-10PM on Thursday May 19th, 2023 at Sarasota Art Museum. There were over 400 attendees including family friends, staff, alumni, current students, 66 faculty members, and 90 graduating students (over 75% of the New College 2023 graduating class).
National civil rights leader and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Maya Wiley, delivered the keynote speech for the Commencement ceremony. Other speakers included graduating students, alumni, and former faculty: K. C. Casey ([NEW] Commencement Organizer, Class of 2023), Sofia Lombardi (Former NCSA President, Class of 2023), Sophia Brown (Former Editor-In-Chief of The Catalyst, Class of 2023), Brian Cody (NCA Board Member, Former NCSA President, Class of 2006), Helene Gold (Former Associate Dean of the Jane Bancroft Cook Library), Madison Markham ([NEW] Commencement Organizer, Class of 2023), Dr. Pat Okker (Former NCF President). Notable speakers who were unable to attend, but sent in congratulatory videos included: Neil Gaiman (Author), Michael Moore (Filmmaker), and Erin Reed (LGBT+ Activist/Journalist).
[Links to the speeches and a full video recording of the ceremony can be found below.]
After the ceremony, there was a reception held for graduates to take photos and celebrate with their guests. Attendees were treated with catering, live musical performances from student/alumni bands (ASH, Sungrazer, and Physical Plant), and custom [NEW] Commencement t-shirt signing (designed by Jessica Merkel (Class of 2023)).
How was this event funded?
This event was funded by a $15,000 donation from the Save New College ad-hoc committee and an additional $130,000 raised through a GoFundMe fundraiser.
Our fundraising successes not only allowed us to host a fulfilling celebration of NCF’s 2023 graduates, but ensured an established support system for the execution of future events by New College students.
The Novo Collegian Alliance will be using $70,000 of the donations secured through the GoFundMe to create a fund for student-determined activities on New College’s campus during the 2023-2024 school year. This will provide students with funds that they can allocate toward Pride events, hosting progressive speakers, student clubs, student organizing/activism, community celebrations, etc. To ensure students retain control over the funds, the NCSA (New College Student Alliance) will administer the funds, and the Novo Collegian Alliance will hold the funds in a restricted account on their behalf.
Press Coverage
National News
Reflection from a Graduating Student & Organizer: K. C. Casey
I had the idea of planning an alternative commencement for New College’s Class of 2023 back in February of this year, after the firing of Dr. Pat Okker and arrival of her fraudulent replacement: interim president Richard Corcoran. As Corcoran and the Board of Trustees deemed the college, its faculty, and student body a failure, I feared that graduates would be stuck with a final memory of shaking hands with someone who was unable to celebrate their achievements in good faith.
I originally had small, reasonable aspirations of an event with a few graduates, some friends, family members, and faculty in attendance. A few months later, with the support of Save New College, the Novo Collegian Alliance, a successful GoFundMe, and some fellow student organizers, we were able to create an event I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams.
Looking back to that day, I could not be more content with it as my final memory of my undergraduate years at New College of Florida, but this commencement ceremony was not an end. [NEW] Commencement was a [NEW] beginning. Not a sunset ceremony, but a rising dawn. A [NEW] beginning for graduates and our community, as a whole, as we push forward in our resistance efforts. The New College community is a force to be reckoned with—a beautiful, persistent force—and we needed an event like this, right now, to remind us of our collective strength. I am honored to have played a role in delivering that crucial reminder.
I am endlessly grateful to the NCA for making this event possible.
I am thankful for all the alumni, faculty, staff, students, and folks nationwide who made it a tremendous success.
I am in awe of the joy and love and passion my fellow recent graduates put out into the world on a daily basis. I am eager to see where life takes us when guided by ecstatic wonder and an unwillingness to settle for anything less; but for now, I’ll look to the stars.
-K. C. Casey [<3]
