For the first time since 2022, Emerson College has changed locations for the graduating class of 2026’s commencement ceremonies from the Agganis Arena at Boston University to the Boch Center’s Wang Theater. The announcement was sent in a community email by commencement director Vicky Peterson announced in late August.
The change in venue is just a short walk from campus down Tremont St, but will seat half the capacity of Agganis, which held a capacity of 7,000-seats, and has left graduating students and alumni alike divided on the move. Due to the capacity, the ceremonies will be separated by college, with the keynote speaker following. Ticket availability will differ between the commencements, which offer five guest tickets and the key-note speaker, which offers three.
Some graduates expressed excitement over the change, citing not having to deal with the 16 minute drive to the Agganis as a benefit. Students like Izzy Bacallao, a senior in theatre design and technology, say the change will allow them to show their families around campus on their special day. She says the proximity allows them the opportunity to show families around the school and enjoy the location in Downtown.
“[It] feels like a great opportunity for them to see the place where I experienced such extraordinary change,” said Bacallao.
However, not all of this year’s graduates shared her enthusiasm. While for some the change creates convenience, considering the two minute distance between the new venue and the school, others are burdened with having to cap off the amount of family attending the celebrations. For many, the division of the student body begs the question of whether this change could have been a conversation with the student body, rather than unilaterally removing an intimate tradition that brings the community together one last time.
Joshua Truesdale, a creative writing major, said he depended on a bigger venue to accommodate his loved ones and the attendance of his twin brother, who now shares the same graduation date as him.
“I know it’s going to be heartbreaking, having to choose between us,” Truesdale said.“[My mother] was obviously quite upset and quite disappointed.”
These kinds of difficult situations could become a recurring issue for students Truesdale, who said he and his family feel the school is ignoring the impact this decision will have on the morale of the event and its counterparts.
“The school really hasn’t done anything to take into account the feelings of the community,” Truesdale said.“Our motto is expression is necessary to evolution, it hurts me more because I haven’t seen that at least in the past couple years.”
Truesdale also communicated his concern at having to attend different ceremonies than his friends in other majors, like marketing and journalism. He highlighted how two careers with the potential to work hand in hand now feel separated at the end of their journeys.
“I don’t think separating us by our interests and mediums is really what the school is about, so there is some additional disappointment,” Truesdale said.
According to the college’s official commencement page, students will attend ceremonies based on where their major falls in the list of programs and departments. The School of Communication’s ceremony will commence at 12 p.m. on May 8 with the awarding of diplomas and the Hooding ceremony at 2 p.m., while the School of Film, Television, and Media Arts, and School of Arts Graduate Hooding Ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. with the hooding starting at 5 p.m.
Additionally, alumni who graduated in Agganis Arena, like Joei Chan ‘24, said they feel for those graduating in what is now the “cramped, showlike” feeling of the Wang Theatre.
“I feel like the Agganis Arena seemed more formal for graduation purposes,” Chan said, expressing pride that she participated in this Emerson tradition in its usual location.
A senior media arts production major who declined to give their name for privacy reasons, shared this sentiment. They said that the change makes commencement feel less celebratory.
“People looked forward to having graduation in a big auditorium with the traditional graduation feel,” they said.
This decision, they added, reflects much more than a change in scenery, but a recurring pattern in Emerson’s decision making.
“It feels like we don’t have a say in any of the changes they make,” they said. “Major changes cannot keep being made without at least conducting some sort of survey to see how people really feel about things instead of changing them with no genuine warning.”
For students preparing to walk across the stage, the traditions of a groovy drum collective, heartwarming speeches, and three-hour long commencement will continue to endure. But for the class of 2026, this year’s ceremony marks the beginning of a new chapter in Emersonian history, and the ending of another.
