—
Graduates debate
merits of gowns
By Emily Rosenbaum
Senior Reporter
Graduates planning to walk down
the aisle at the Bob Dcvaney Sports
Center have a choice of what to
wear.
Disposable or rental is the ward
robe decision graduates will have
to make.
Bill Cummins, manager of the
Big Red department at the Ne
braska Bookstore, said the store
sells disposable caps and gowns
year-round. Students can keep the
caps, tassels and gowns after the
ceremonies, he said.
That way, a graduate can wear
the gown home for pictures with
family and friends and always have
the gown as a remembrance, he
said.
The gown’s cost is $12.95.
Although the gowns aren’t able
to withstand several washings or a
hot iron, they are “good enough to
keep,’’ he said.
The gowns are made of a nylon
like, acetate material which melts
under high temperatures such as an
iron, he said.
The gowns look about the same
as the rented ones, he said, but
have a “shinier” look to them.
Disposable gowns arc conven
ient for the student who waits until
the last minute and isn’t able to
order a rented gown, Cummins said.
He said students can come in any
time to buy the gowns - including
the day of commencement.
Graduates also do not have to
make several trips to the store to be
measured and then to pick up the
gown, he said.
Students arc sized and given
their gown the same day, he said.
A few people even bought the
caps and gowns for Halloween last
year, Cummins said.
The caps, tassels and gowns are
all black and sized by height, he
said.
Cummins said the disposable
gown sales are a service to stu
dents, and the store makes only $1
on each sale.
Dick Lewis, manager of the
University Bookstore, said he ex
pects about 98 percent of the May
graduates at UNL to rent their gowns.
A bachelor’s degree gown rental
is $7.25, and students keep the
caps and tassels, he said.
The gown is turned in following
commencement at Sports Center.
A master’s degree gown rental,
which includes a hood with the cap
and tassel, costs $17.25. The cap
and tassel, in a different color for
each field of study, also can be
kept, he said.
The doctorate cap, tassel, gown
and hood rents for $19.25.
Students can mail in an order
form and their payment to the
bookstore, or they can come in to
the store and be measured, he said.
The bookstore will measure stu
dents and take orders today, Lewis
said, and students can pick up their
rented gowns May 10 and 11.
Graduates also can pick up their
gowns the morning of graduation
ceremonies at Sports Center, he
said.
If a graduate is not able to pick
up the gown May 10 or 11, some
one else can come to the store and
collect it, Lewis said.
Because the store always orders
extras, he said, it is easy to ex
change a gown or cap if it docs not
fit.
He said this year the store proba
bly will order about 1(X) extra gowns.
Students also can buy an extra
tassel for S2 at the store.
Graduation separates friends
despite everyone’s good intentions
Getting measured for that lovely
recyclable gown, sitting through a
sleep-inducing speech, and — most of
all - wearing that funny littie hat - is
something that I have dreamed of for
a long, long time.
Now that it finally is going to
happen, I am not so sure I want it to.
In fact, these last few weeks, I
have been pretty agitated about gradu
ating.
Although I’ve spent these last seven
years griping about college classes,
college teachers and college bureauc
racy, there’s one aspect of college I
already am missing:
My college friends.
I know, I know. Friends always
will be friends -- no matter what. We
can always meet for lunch. Meet for a
beer. Or reach out over the phone and
touch someone, right?
Wrong.
The reality is, we probably won’t.
We will be too busy with our jobs,
with our families, with the business
of making a name for ourselves. No
matter what our good intentions are at
the start, we will not follow through
on them.
Sure. Some of you are out there
right now saying, “No way. Not me.
That’s not how I’ll treat my friends.
I’ll never blow ’em off. We’ll always
be close.”
Bull.
It’s more likely that our friend
ships will slowly melt away - like a
bar of mushy soap — bit by bit, day by
day, until some day as we reach for it,
it slips between our fingers and gurgles
down the drain, mixing with ail the
hair we’ve lost.. . gluck! _
We probably will think, “Huh.
You know, we used to be pretty good
friends. Too bad we aren’t anymore.
1 wonder what happened?”
What happened was human na
ture.
People do not c hoosc to ignore and
neglect those they have grown close
_________ ,
to -- il just sort of happens — because
friends who have nothing in common
anymore eventually grow apart.
We see it happening to married
couples. We sec it happening to par
ents and their kids. Most of all, we see
it happening to ourselves.
We even know when it is happen
ing. We do not like to accept it, be
C. J.
Schepers
cause accepting it means we have to
deal with it. Those graduating this
May know what I’m talking about.
We have been talking about get
ting together for that one last bash --
before everyone moves on to their
new jobs and their new lives.
It is exciting to think of getting
together, yet it also is depressing,
because in our hearts we know that
this probably will be the last. The last
time we walk the hallways together.
The last time we study together. The
last time we party together.
Because it will not be convenient
anymore.
That means if we really want to
keep our friendships, we will have to
make the time for them.
And we all know how that usually
goes.
Before we can say “diploma,”
many of us will be on our way to other
things: new jobs, new goals, new
friends ... a new life.
Moving on is a fact of graduation
and a fact of life, which is why some
of you will slay here and go on to
graduate school.
I was afraid of it.
From January to April, I secretly
was fantasizing that maybe it was not
time for me to graduate.
“Maybe I should wait another
semester,” I thought. Meanwhile, the
Office of Registration & Records was
taking its time with my degree appli
cation.
By the middle of March, I was
beginning to sweat it out, wishfully
thinking, “What if I need one more
credit hour? It would be too late now
to add another class!”
And believe me, I had heard plenty
of horror stories and lots of paranoid
talk about how the university tries to
hold you back as long as possible - so
they can soak you for more tuition.
But three weeks ago, I finally got
my OK to graduate, with one condi
lion attached, of course: I had to pass
all my current courses.
1 am trying not to flunk, but I did
come close with one class.
After taking an Algebra 100 com
prehensive final, my instructor gra
ciously graded the results right away.
I remember staring at the wall, think
ing, “God, please, let me pass this
stupid lest.”
I got a D+.
Of course, I was relieved, yet a
part of me still wishes I wasn’t going
to graduate - still wishes I didn’t
have to move on and leave my friends
behind.
But there’s this other voice inside
of me that’s saying, “Hey, you fool!
You’re almost done. No more home
work, no more teachers, no more
school.”
So I have decided I am ready to say
goodbye - finally ready to tuck that
bachelor’s diploma underneath my
armpit and race around the Bob De
vancy sports track. After all, it would
only seem filling.
It just doesn’t seem fitting to leave
my friends.
Schcpcrs is a senior news-ed itoriai major and
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
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