Drexel draws complaints for canceling its university-wide commencement at Citizens Bank Park

It was 2016 when Drexel University held a university-wide commencement — the first time in decades — by renting out Citizens Bank Park.

In the past, the school had held individual ceremonies for its different colleges because it had no venue big enough to bring everyone together.

“But that really robbed us of the opportunity to celebrate our students in a way that they could bring numerous family members and friends” to the event, Subir Sahu, then-Drexel’s vice president and dean of student life, said in 2016.

» READ MORE: Drexel takes over Citizens Bank Park - for one day

And now, some students say they are feeling robbed again.

Sahu, now senior vice president of student success, announced last week that Drexel would not be holding commencement at the park as it had done for six of the last seven years — it took 2020 off because of COVID-19 — because of a scheduling conflict at Citizens Bank Park.

Two concerts have been scheduled for the park the week that Drexel wanted it: Dead & Company booked the stadium on June 15 and Morgan Wallen on June 17.

» READ MORE: Rowan University is among first in the region to hold in-person commencement

“A lot of us look forward to it and have families coming from very far,” one commenter wrote on a Reddit thread. “It’s also a monumental collective moment to be done with it, finally. And seeing all other colleges have theirs, it’s a little depressing.”

David Buck, executive vice president of the Phillies, said any time anyone rents out the park, it’s contingent on two things: the playoffs and concerts.

“No offense, if we can have 40,000 people at a concert, we’re going to have to do that,” Buck said.

» READ MORE: Who spoke at Philly area commencements last year?

Extensive setup required for the Thursday concert will begin on the prior Sunday, he said. Buck said the Phillies and Drexel tried to find a way to make it work, but couldn’t.

“Every other year it has worked,” he said. “If they want to do it next year, we’re game.”

Sahu said in a campus message sent Friday that the university had conducted “an exhaustive search in partnership with the Phillies” for another venue but could not find one on the available dates with enough capacity, which, in the past, was between 8,000 and 12,000. The school looked at alternatives such as Lincoln Financial Field and the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field, but they weren’t available, he said in an interview.

However, the university will continue its tradition of hosting individual school and college celebrations on campus and at other venues in the city between June 14 and June 16, and graduates will be called to the stage by name to receive their degrees, he said. The school also will host a celebration for graduates on June 13 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with music, refreshments, activities and a kick-off toast by Drexel President John A. Fry on the Rocky steps.

Luke Ingram, a senior math major from Queens, said he still thought that Drexel should have been able to figure something out, even if it meant moving the universitywide celebration to a different week.

“It seems like they are not putting in enough to really get it done,” he said.

A senior from Glenside who reached out to The Inquirer to complain said his family couldn’t believe there wouldn’t be a universitywide celebration, especially after all the time and money students and their families put into the university.

The class of 2023 were freshmen when COVID-19 shut down college campuses across the nation and upended the way classes were held. Now, they face losing another piece of their college experience, said the student, who said he didn’t want his name associated with the university because he was so disgusted.

“It seemed like after all the hardships our class had gone through over COVID, with remote education … we were all looking forward to having this graduation ceremony,” he said.

But Sahu in an interview said it just wasn’t possible this year. The university really tries to have the event over the same three-day period as the smaller ceremonies.

“We have families that are coming in literally from all around the world, and so you want to keep those ceremonies as tightly knit as possible so that families are flying in and they are here for the one or two days when they have several ceremonies,” he said.

Sahu said more students actually attend the smaller school and college ceremonies than the universitywide event. About 1,500 to 2,000 of the nearly 6,000 graduates and their families came to Citizens Bank Park each year, he said.

Not everyone on the Reddit thread saw the Citizens Bank Park event as a loss.

“Know this won’t help but that ceremony was the most useless 2 hours of my entire life,” one commenter wrote. “The college ceremonies are much more personal and much more worthwhile.”

Nevertheless, Drexel officials said they were disappointed they couldn’t make it work this year.

“We love the tradition we started at the ballpark,” Sahu said.