How come McMaster Convocations do not take place on campus? It seems all other universities have their ceremonies on campus (i.e. UT, Waterloo, Western, etc.)

I'm disappointed that we aren't able to take photos with our gowns and degrees around the campus grounds. Even at the current Hamilton Place, I've heard you have to return your gown before they give you your degree. I feel we are being robbed of precious memories. I see my friends from other universities posing for pictures together around their campuses with their gowns and degrees in hand.

Am I the only one who thinks this is absurd? How hard is it to have a building for convocations, like every other university?

When do you get the gown? Like would it be possible to go to campus a few days before and take pictures?

We get the gowns right before the ceremony, and that's what the rental covers. I don't think they have enough gowns for people loan for a few days, as all the graduates need to use them consecutively day-after-day during the time period.

Personally, I wouldn't want to have only the gown without my friends/family and my degree for photos.

I'm pretty sure you can rent the gown from Titles at another time. I know some people that went to McMaster to take picture then came back to return their gowns and get their degree. If you want both the gown and the degree in the picture then I think the only way is to go back to McMaster another day with your degree and rent the gown from Titles.

Originally Posted by jhan523

I'm pretty sure you can rent the gown from Titles at another time. I know some people that went to McMaster to take picture then came back to return their gowns and get their degree. If you want both the gown and the degree in the picture then I think the only way is to go back to McMaster another day with your degree and rent the gown from Titles.

So then I would have to pay more money, and get my friends/family to come back on another seperate day and hope my classmates that I want to take pics with can do the same.

Like I said before, am I the only one who thinks this is absurd?

Originally Posted by Allan

So then I would have to pay more money, and get my friends/family to come back on another seperate day and hope my classmates that I want to take pics with can do the same.

Like I said before, am I the only one who thinks this is absurd?

There's just not enough space on Campus to host a convocation for the large faculties. Maybe if they did it outdoors but then convocations could get postponed due to weather or something. Like I said, you can go to McMaster to take a picture with family/friends in your gown and then go back to Hamilton Place to get your degree. The only thing is if you want a picture in your gown holding your degree, that would have to be done on another day (for 17$).

As for the gowns. Apparently the 40$ doesn't go towards the gown rental but towards staffing the concovation as well as renting out the place. I agree it's not the smartest idea for them to hold our degrees as a safety deposit. Even though the safety deposit is 240$ (140$ for gown, 100$ for cap), I would rather pay a deposit and have the opportunity to have a picture in my gown holding my degree and then get my 240$ back.

Originally Posted by jhan523

There's just not enough space on Campus to host a convocation for the large faculties.

Is our campus really that small compared to other universities? I think there could have been room for a convocation hall if it was planned out. Heck, they were able to fit a new residence and engineering building in recent years.

If there isn't anymore land to expand on, I would demolish University Hall, and build a larger building by pushing back scholar's road towards the field. Then there would be plenty of room. If not, they could even build it infront of JHE.

Originally Posted by Allan

Is our campus really that small compared to other universities? I think there could have been room for a convocation hall if it was planned out. Heck, they were able to fit a new residence and engineering building in recent years.

If there isn't anymore land to expand on, I would demolish University Hall, and build a larger building by pushing back scholar's road towards the field. Then there would be plenty of room. If not, they could even build it infront of JHE.

The university is in debt and there are other necessities than a huge hall dedicated towards convocation. They would rather build new classrooms (I believe their planning on building a new building to replace all the old/small classrooms in the arts quad) and new labs which would be used year-round than a convocation hall (Which we do have but it's tiny and can probably only fit like 100 people) that would only be used a week or two a year.

Originally Posted by Allan

Is our campus really that small compared to other universities? I think there could have been room for a convocation hall if it was planned out. Heck, they were able to fit a new residence and engineering building in recent years.

If there isn't anymore land to expand on, I would demolish University Hall, and build a larger building by pushing back scholar's road towards the field. Then there would be plenty of room. If not, they could even build it infront of JHE.

We do have a convocation hall, it's in university hall. But yeah, it's just too small.

I can't see them ever demolishing any of the historic buildings (university hall, hamilton hall, etc).

Originally Posted by jhan523

The university is in debt and there are other necessities than a huge hall dedicated towards convocation. They would rather build new classrooms (I believe their planning on building a new building to replace all the old/small classrooms in the arts quad) and new labs which would be used year-round than a convocation hall (Which we do have but it's tiny and can probably only fit like 100 people) that would only be used a week or two a year.

That's a shame. I wish I knew about this convocation situation when choosing universities, its definitely a factor I would have liked to consider.

Also, I believe convocations occur a few times throughout the year. And I'm sure the building could be designed so that the space can be transformed for other uses.

Originally Posted by Allan

That's a shame. I wish I knew about this convocation situation when choosing universities, its definitely a factor I would have liked to consider.

Also, I believe convocations occur a few times throughout the year. And I'm sure the building could be designed so that the space can be transformed for other uses.

There are two convocations I believe, one in the fall and one in the summer. That's probably like 2-3 weeks of convocation out of 52 weeks in a year. I agree that it could be used for other purposes, but a hall of that size is impractical as that same space could yield multiple rooms which could be used for multiple classes simultaneously.

Even the larger seminars held at McMaster don't require that much seating. Most seminars use smaller classrooms, I think the Origin seminars use BSB 147. I don't think even the most interesting seminars will attract a thousand or more people, at least not on a regular basis.

Originally Posted by Allan

That's a shame. I wish I knew about this convocation situation when choosing universities, its definitely a factor I would have liked to consider.

Also, I believe convocations occur a few times throughout the year. And I'm sure the building could be designed so that the space can be transformed for other uses.

lol are you serious? Taking a decision like that over some building?

Originally Posted by Eternal Fire

lol are you serious? Taking a decision like that over some building?

Yes, I'm serious. I believe I won't have those precious moments to capture with friends and family that all other university students get to enjoy. You might disagree...but I think graduations are an important milestone in one's life. So no, it's not about 'some building'.

Also, I said personally it would be a factor in choosing a university. It doesn't mean it would be the deciding factor, that would be crazy. There's pros and cons to every university, and this is definitely a con for Mac.

UOIT held their convocation in a hockey arena...so there definitely are worse situations out there. I agree it would have been nice to be able to take pictures on campus with the gown, but in the end you can still get pictures on campus with your degree at least.