Outside Brotman Hall on April 4, Long Beach State university students held a protest against the university’s decision to hold the 2023 commencement ceremony at Angel Stadium without reading graduate’s names.
For three years straight, CSULB students have been deprived of a customary graduation ceremony, leading to frustration amongst the graduating class. However, an organization called Let ’23 Walk has taken matters into its own hands and is striving towards gifting the 2023 cohort with this golden opportunity.
The group’s endeavors have even managed to capture backing from fellow students, parents and support from the community which can be seen through the over 18,000 signatures tagged on their petition document.
Despite several attempts by the protestors to discuss alternatives for their Spring commencement ceremony with university officials, they were declined an audience.
Leading the protest was Zeina Elrachid, a fourth-year student studying molecular cell biology. Helping her cause were Po Garcia and Mahek Patel.
Elrachid is a first-generation student. She initiated the process by starting a petition to dispute the administration’s decision against a traditional graduation ceremony.
Elrachid’s parents were left dumbfounded upon discovering that the commencement ceremony would change. Many other student’s parents had similar reactions to the disputed change.
The petition seems to have been met with unwavering support from thousands online as over 18,000 people had responded positively by signing this petition where it was online until April 6.
Po Garcia is a linguistics major, and did not have a traditional commencement ceremony at her local college. It was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
When Garcia entered Patel’s discord server, which boasted an attendance of 100 individuals at the time, she observed that the platform had been overrun with internet “trolls” and failed to exhibit any semblance of organization.
A private message exchange between Garcia and Patel suggested improvements such as distinct communication channels for different topics within their forums.
Mahek Patel created a discord channel with fellow students from the CSULB 2023 graduating class. Before Elrachid joined the chat, membership was limited to approximately 50 individuals who actively communicated through this platform.
These three students are the leaders for Let ’23 Walk -their organization that had planned this demonstration with great attention to detail- which succeeded in drawing 35 demonstrators, followed by another large crowd of approximately 800 on Discord chat.
Amidst a gathering of protesters, banners and placards were raised while they clamored for their right to march during the graduation ceremony. Ear-splitting choruses resonated through the vicinity as participants vocalized slogans such as “Don’t talk, let us walk,” “Stop playing games, call our names,” and “We deserve appreciation, let us walk at graduation.”
Student demonstrators also handed out flyers with a QR code linked to the petition to let the 2023 class walk. The petition has approximately over 18,000 signatures.
Amidst the demonstration, an email from Elrachid to CSULB President Jane Close Conoley was passed around. The email requested a brief meeting spanning half an hour to deliberate on their concerns.
The organizers only had the March 13 meeting with student affairs vice president Jeff Klaus, and the administration has been silent since then.
