By Kaia James, November 3, 2026
Cal Poly Pomona students and Associated Students Inc. board members questioned university administrators about changes to 2027 commencement during the Oct. 23 board meeting, criticizing the university’s communication with students and its decision to combine ceremonies and reduce guest tickets.
The discussion followed a story published by the Poly Post Oct. 20, which rported CPP’s plans to move 2027 commencement ceremonies to weekdays, consolidate ceremonies and reduce the baseline ticket allocation from eight to six per graduate. Students from the Collins College of Hospitality Management and the College of Agriculture questioned why they had not been consulted earlier and asked administrators to explain the financial and logistical reasoning behind the proposed changes.
Frances Teves, vice president for university advancement, Helen Yniguez, executive director of university events and Melissa Riordan, assistant vice president for alumni and external relations, gave ASI the same presentation shared at the Oct. 14 Academic Senate meeting.
The presentation came after the meeting’s open forum, by which time many students in the gallery had left.
Teves described graduation season as the university events staff’s “reason for being.”
She also shared the planning process for commencement had been ongoing for about 13 months.
Yniguez shared the university had previously scheduled ceremonies Monday to Wednesday three years ago, but CPP had to pivot when it ran into conflicts with final exam schedules and increased traffic to and from campus. According to the commencement FAQ page, the university plans to schedule commencement for May 24-26 which will not conflict with students’ final exam schedules.
Teves said the committee relied on surveying students during the spring, to figure out their opinions on commencement programming. Students who participated ranked having their names announced as they cross the stage among their top priorities.
“They want that moment that can get captured on Instagram,” Teves said.
Several ASI board members questioned the university’s communication with students and the timing of the announcement. Some members said they never saw any emails regarding the proposed changes to the 2027 commencement.
Some students present during the BOD meeting said they were only made aware of these pending changes because of the Poly Post breaking news article.
ASI Vice President Kimora-Aoki Morley criticized the committee’s reliance on surveys to understand students’ preferences, saying the university should do more to communicate with students through channels they regularly use.
“There’s always this recurring theme of a disconnect,” Morley said.
Morley said CPP presents itself as a university that supports economic and social mobility but could better understand students’ experiences and needs by using social media.
While she listened to the presentation, Morley said there were several initiatives shared she felt required follow-up to better understand, including changes in gown color.
Morley said the university is concerned with creating a noticeable shared identity through branding and has made transformations throughout her time at CPP.
Students navigating circumstances like affording and finding a gown for graduation, is an example of the basic needs of students, she and ASI President Alejandra Sanchez wish to help address.
“I always am someone that says to meet students where they are,” Morley said.
“Most of us are on social media, some of us like emails. I think that when I am in these conversations with different university leaders, I often say that maybe your email structure isn’t working. It’s probably not the fact that we don’t read our emails, but they may look automated,” Morley said.
Morley emphasized she hopes the commencement committee’s presentation in front of students was not just to “check off a box.”
Morley said as a student leader she doesn’t want students to be “tokenized” or consulted after decisions have basically been made, adding students should be given the chance to advocate for themselves earlier in the decision-making process.
Morley said the number of students who showed up for the open forum was evidence of how much they care about the issue.
Many students from Collins College of Hospitality Management and the College of Agricultural attended the open forum to oppose the commencement changes to merge the college’s separate ceremonies into one.
The England Evans room in the Bronco Student Center, where BOD meetings are held, was at capacity during the forum, according to observations at the meeting.
“It made us feel like since we are the smallest college, we were kind of the most expendable to just be thrown into random ceremonies so the university didn’t have to spend more resources,” said Kailey Subia, Collins College of Hospitality Management senator.
Subia said hospitality students have close relationships outside of the classroom and sharing their commencement with another college, whose students may not share the same struggles or experiences, feels less intimate.
Subia acknowledged how combining ceremonies might make logistical sense for the university, but it would not be the last moment she had imagined sharing with her Collins family.
Prior to the commencement committee’s presentation, Subia asked the committee what the university’s projected savings would be by combining the two colleges’ ceremonies during the BOD meeting. Teves said she did not have exact numbers at the time of the meeting.
When the Poly Post followed up on the figures Subia asked about, Teves responded via email and said it is difficult to determine the independent cost for each college’s individual ceremony as some expenses overlap and account for the needs of all colleges, such as the cost of rental chairs.
According to Teves’ response via email, the primary cost associated with individual ceremonies is toward staffing and volunteer support, including required security personnel to ensure the event’s safety.
“I feel we deserve the right to know how much our experience is worth eliminating,” Subia said.
Subia said board members did not receive the presentation materials concerning commencement until two days before the BOD meeting on Friday, Oct. 23. She said she felt the university should have given them this information a lot sooner, and as student leaders, they would need to speak to their peers about the changes happening.
Aidan Cong, College of Business senator, questioned why the average student was excluded from discussions about the proposed commencement changes.
Cong said students were not given the opportunity to understand the university’s constraints or voice their concerns before the proposal was developed.
He also said the proposed consolidation did not appear equitable to him.
Cong said each college, no matter the size, deserves its own ceremony. He said combining ceremonies for the sake of time and brevity does not promote equity among students.
He also questioned the university’s explanations of budget constraints, saying students are expected to take administrators at their word when financial concerns are raised.
Katherine Cervantes, a fourth-year political science student, was one of the students in the gallery who spoke during the open forum portion. She criticized the proposed reduction from eight commencement tickets to six.
“It’s a slap in the face, so genuinely and just outright so tone deaf about the severity and that this causes emotional turmoil for the families,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes questioned the university’s thought process and said she believed the university had a “surplus of money.”
Cervantes said moving the ceremonies to a weekday would severely impact most immigrant families. As a Hispanic Serving Institution, it is unrealistic to expect parents of graduates to use sick time to attend the commencement ceremony on a weekday, according to Cervantes.
Teves took notes on the ASI BOD’s feedback and said she would share it with other university officials involved in commencement planning.
On Oct. 27, the office of the President released a statement via email sharing the official proposed changes for the 2027 commencement.
In the statement signed by President Vanya Quiñones, student processions will remain unless temperatures reach or exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit or other conditions pose a health risk, with a final decision made the morning of each ceremony. The university will change Commencement regalia to CPP green and provide color specifications for students purchasing from outside vendors. It will also offer a limited number of regalia sets for students to borrow, with plans to expand the lending program to help ensure cost does not prevent graduates from participating.
The statement also confirmed several proposed changes for the 2027 Commencement ceremonies, including maintaining the initial allocation of six guest tickets per graduate, with additional tickets available through redistribution of unclaimed tickets. Ceremonies will take place Monday through Wednesday, with the total number decreasing from 12 ceremonies in previous years to 10.
