At the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, master of urban and regional planning students are banned from participating in their cohort’s commencement ceremony unless all degree requirements have been completed in their entirety. In a recent conversation with a graduate student affairs adviser, it was confirmed to us that some departments allow for students to walk at their respective ceremonies despite having a limited amount of coursework yet to complete.
At the Fielding School of Public Health, for example, simple processes have been set in place to grant students who have yet to complete certain degree requirements the right to request to walk at their commencement ceremony. UCLA undergraduates are granted similar flexibility and can request to walk at their commencement ceremony even in cases where coursework is set to be completed during subsequent quarters.
Urban planning graduate students have raised serious concern over the department policy, which they deem outdated and misaligned. Administration of the urban and regional planning department have stated that a previous cohort of students requested the policy be set in place. If this statement is in fact accurate, shouldn’t each cohort be able to decide on the policy for its own graduating class?
In a recent petition, the MURP class of 2015 clearly voiced its concern that the existing graduation policy is unrepresentative of current students’ values and, more importantly, the values of their profession. Urban planning is a field that requires the skillful art of collaboration, collective envisioning, heartfelt yet practical negotiation and the supportive development of the human spirit through an inclusively built environment.
To excel in their field and contribute meaningfully in name of the collective greater good, urban planners thrive off of their genuine networks, shared experiences and aligned vision for a change that is larger than themselves. Urban planners are at the forefront of significant discussion and decision-making that affects citizens at the neighborhood, city, national and global scales.
Planners often talk about “context-sensitive design,” which is a design of the built environment that is sensitive to the user’s needs. We wouldn’t build a skyscraper in a residential neighborhood or neglect to provide a wheelchair ramp alongside stairs, and giving all students the opportunity to walk is no different. We as students strive to uphold the values of equity and inclusion by including all of our classmates in our graduation ceremony, regardless of their individual hardships and unforeseen circumstances. Something is clearly amiss when the UCLA urban planning department does not uphold the very values it instills in its students.
The UCLA department of urban and regional planning is using a knife when what it needs is a scalpel. Many MURP students have faced life-impacting circumstances, including the birth of children, the death or illness of family members and individual mental health crises.
MURP students call on the Department of Urban Planning to reflect critically and honestly on its values through the lens of integrity and ensure that such values are translated into all departmental policies and actions. It is time that the department model for its students the ideals embodied in their profession – that the department sees students, faculty and administration as a single unit that reaches its greatest potential when operating in collaboration rather than disunion.
As candidates for masters of urban and regional planning class of 2015, we request that the department reconsider the existing graduation policy and announce its decision to the cohort by Monday, May 18, 2015.
Patiño and Quintero are both graduate students in the Department of Urban Planning.
As part of this cohort, I am ashamed that my Department is putting my classmates, who are facing challenges like being a new parent or dealing with grief, through this instead of supporting them. Some of my classmates even tried to take on more courses to make up for the quarter they took off, only to find that even finishing 1 course in the summer would disqualify them from the ceremony this June! We are a very tight knit group and have supported each other through the last 2 years in school, as well as through personal challenges. We want to be able to walk together and celebrate with our families.
Luskin, let them walk. Some of these people have contributed more to my learning and critical thinking than many of the professors.
Some students have additional graduation requirements to complete after this spring term due to extenuating personal circumstances that they have experienced. My department’s decision to deny these students their moment to celebrate their hard work and effort over the past two years with their cohort and with their friends and family is unfair and truly disappointing.
This is a discretionary decision by the department — it is bureaucratic red tape…nothing more, nothing less. I urge my department to make the right decision here — LET THEM WALK.
Let them walk! This decision by my department goes against what I expect out of an urban planning program that promotes inclusivity, equity, and justice. Let my classmates celebrate this moment together.