It's almost graduation: you know, that time when the city is flooded with parents, graduates, and moving trucks as everyone prepares to move to their new job and city—or, in this economy, back in with the 'rents. What happened over the past year at the big (and small) schools around town? Bostonist looks back at some news stories, from Harvard's billion-dollar losses to Emerson's Holocaust insensitivity, and provides graduation information as well, including commencement speakers, in which category Berklee blows everybody away. Did we miss an important story? Let us know in the comments!
Berklee College of Music
Commencement: Saturday, May 9
Speaker: Smokey Robinson
- Berklee bought land from the First Church of Christ, Scientist, to build its First Church of Music.
- The first annual Music for Film Festival at Berklee was a great success.
- The Video Game Orchestra realized bleeps and bloops with instruments.
- Berklee had its first Fulbright student. Liz Davis Maxfield will study Irish traditional music performance at the University of Limerick. She's not only the first Berklee Fulbright but also the first cellist to be accepted to Limerick's program.
- Berklee blogged from SXSW, where it also rocked.
- This summer, Berklee will host two students from Mississippi as part of its Summer Performance Program.
Boston College
Commencement: Monday, May 18
Speakers: Ken Burns, Ben Bernanke (law school)
- BC said no to William Ayers, who ended up speaking at Brandeis, apparently a more open-minded institution, or at least a place more respectful of free speech.
- People got pissy about BC putting up crucifixes in classrooms.
- BC students were also reprimanded for handing out sexual health materials. Gee, don't it just make you want to go to a Catholic school?
- The Heights named Alexandra Saieh Person of the Year.
Boston University
Commencement: Sunday, May 17
Speakers: Rep. Michael E. Capuano and Rev. Dr. Gloria E. White-Hammond
- BU med student Phillip Markoff became the craigslist killer.
- The Terriers won another Hockey East championship.
- Rep. Capuano is apparently not good enough for BU students.
Brandeis University
Commencement: Sunday, May 17, 2009
Speaker: Mayor Cory Booker
- Brandeis lost a lot of money...
- ...and closed the Rose Art Museum...
- ...but not really? Because it can't?
- Bill Ayers visited campus after being rejected by BC.
- And golf came back.
Emerson College
Commencement: Monday, May 18
Speakers: U.S. Rep. John Lewis and actor Blair Underwood
- The paper apologized after coming under fire for comparing legal limits on students living together to the Holocaust, apparently not realizing that legislation proponent Mike Ross's father was imprisoned and lost his entire family in various concentration camps. Oops.
- Concerns over the lack of tenured minority faculty at Emerson led the school to conduct an independent evaluation of its tenure proceedings.
- Emersonians are still living in hotels.
- A student revolutionized the admission process with the astute observation that "nothing puts butts in the seats like other, hotter, butts" and proposing Girls Gone Wild: Emerson. Keeping it classy.
Harvard University
Commencement: Thursday, June 4
Speakers: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Nobel laureate in physics
Class Day speaker: Matt Lauer of NBC News
- Perhaps still reeling from this year's $8 billion loss, the Crimson prefers to look back at 2008 rather than 2009.
- The Herald blamed Harvard for bringing rats big enough to saddle up and ride in the Derby to Allston.
- Dental students imported swine flu... in their teeth? Probably not.
- Harvard will close its Quad Library.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Commencement: June 5
Speaker: Deval Patrick
- MIT students will have a harder time getting a haircut after The Tech Barber was evicted from the Student Center.
- A MIT student may have spread swine flu to Harvard Dental.
- A dorm promotion turned into a bomb squad investigation.
- The seemingly innocent act of buying oxycontin got an MIT campus police officer arrested.
- MIT made the NCAA (Division III) basketball tournament for the first time ever. Ever.
- The MBTA got angry when MIT students figured out how to hack a Charlie card—and tried to share the info.
- MIT alum Phillip Ragon donated $100 million toward research to produce an HIV vaccine.
Northeastern University
Commencement: Friday, May 1
Speaker: Kenneth Cole
- Kenneth Cole spoke at Northeastern's commencement, where back-pats instead of handshakes were given out with degrees due to swine flu fears.
- Pop singer JoJo announced her intention to attend Northeastern; LL Cool J's daughter is also interested in becoming a Husky.
- Men in tights (not the Robin Hood kind), originally unearthed in 2007, continued to be extremely popular.
- The Globe examined Northeastern's transition from commuter school to respected research institution.
Tufts University
Commencement: Sunday, May 17, 2009
Speaker: Governor Deval Patrick
- The roof of the Tufts library was dedicated to Alex Mendell.
- A freshman threatened to kill Korean students after using racial slurs against them. And the school didn't expel him.
- Tufts, like many others, lost money to Madoff.
- Financial troubles forced the university to suspend need-blind admissions for the year.
- The full year in review.
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