EXCLUSIVE: Bryant Tells Grads No Selfies with President at Grad
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Bryant University has told this year's class that no "selfies" with President Ronald K. Machtley will be allowed on stage during the school’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17, 2014.
In a Snapchat that made its rounds today through the Bryant community, students were directed not to take selfies with Bryant University President Machtley while on stage receiving their diploma or under the Archway.
School Perspective
Sheila Guay, Director of the Office of Conferences & Special Events at Bryant told GoLocal that the directive was put in place to avoid distractions during the ceremony.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“This is a special day for students and family,” Guay told GoLocal. “Taking selfies would slow down the ceremony and interfere with the professional photos being taken.”
Guay went on to say that Bryant is taking a unique approach during this year’s graduation by allowing students, family, and faculty to post social media content to a Tag Board. The Tag Board, which can be viewed here, allows students, their family, and professors, to post photos, tweets, and other social media to a social media website (a Tag Board), which aggregates all posts labeled with #bryantgrad2014.
Individuals can post items to the school’s official Tag Board from now until graduation day at any time, except during the ceremony, according to Guay.
This is just the latest selfie controversy after Red Sox slugger David Ortiz took a selfie with President Obama.
Student Perspective
Sara Larrabe, who snapped a pic with the President last year, told GoLocal:
Leading up to graduation day, I wanted to leave my mark on the Class of 2013 (the 150th graduating class of the University) so I PLANNED my selfie with Machtley - I don't know if that much is known to my peers, but we both knew that I was going to carry my phone with me up to the stage and after my name was read, we were going to pose for my famous Snapchat selfie with the President.
It was such a rush - not only graduating, but having Ron by my side posing for the most epic graduation photo ever. It also defined me - everyone said "Only Sara could pull off taking a SELFIE with the President as she walked across the stage" It is one of my treasures of my graduation day and I think President Machtley had a blast with the picture too.
Now that the University has made the new "NO SELFIE rule" - there are probably a host of reasons - the ceremony is already 3.5 hours long so is everyone stopped and took their own picture with Machtley it would drag on and on (since every student still has their individual name and degree read) - also, you get 3 professional pictures taken of you during the ceremony (1 in the Archway, 1 with machtley, and 1 with your diploma) if students took their own selifes...who would go and buy professional pictures?
Stay tuned for more as this story continues to develop.
Related Slideshow: Top New England ROI Colleges in 2014 Ranked By Forbes
Related Articles
- New England Colleges with the Best Undergraduate Teaching
- Arctic Wolf to Visit Bryant University
- NEW: Alex and Ani Donates $1 Million to Bryant University
- State Senator Calls on Bryant University to Pay its Fair Share
- Bryant to Host Constitutional Convention Forum on March 29
- NEW: Bryant Study Shows RI Outgrew US
- NEW: Bryant U. Forum—Economy Slowly Recovering
