THE Volume 95, Issue 6
Q
UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924
February 21, 2017
www.mcquad.org
Spring Commencement De La Salle Dinner Moved to Weekdays Shatters Record
$2 MILLION RAISED Daniel Molina Editor
The Waldorf Astoria, closing doors for renovation on March first, hosted one of the most important fundraisers for Manhattan College, the De La Salle Medal Dinner. This year, an outstanding amount of money was collected by the school, breaking an all-time record of $2 million. The De La Salle Medal is an honor conferred annually to honor executives who exemplify the principles of excellence and corporate leadership. This year the award was given to Stephen J. Squeri, class of ’81, vice chairman of American Express Company. Squeri works very closely with the CEO and he is a member of the Officers’ Group, who oversees the company’s strategic direction as they make key policy decisions affecting the company overall. Last year’s spring undergraduate commencement, held on Sunday, May 22. This year, undergraduate commencement will be on a Thursday. Manhattan College/Courtesy The two seven-week long sessions now sizeable graduating class. Sean Sonnemann “We’re exploring all kinds of different sandwiched around the Fourth of July holiSenior Writer options, but we are aware that if we do it day streamline all of the college’s growing business as usual, it’s going to be two ticksummer offerings and may even be better Breaking from recent tradition of for students’ education beyond just ease of ets and that’s not great,” Clyde said. commencement exercises being held on a scheduling. “That’s not what we want, that’s not weekend, Manhattan College’s graduation what they [the students] want. We were “The seven weeks comes from a lot of ceremonies for the class of 2017 will be research on what is an optimal shortened aware that moving off a weekend would held on Thursday, May 18 and Friday, May semester that actually works for learning,” give us more flexibility there.” 19 for the graduate and undergraduate pro- Clyde said. Moving to a weekday ceremony would grams respectively. make it easier for the college to pursue alUnder the previous academic calendar “There were lots of parts to the overall with a delayed start to the spring semester ternative off-site locations to hold graduchange to the calendar, and this was just a and a weekend graduation ceremony later ation. part of it,” Provost William Clyde said. Off-site graduation ceremony location in May, the two-seven week-long summer The most immediate reason behind the sessions proved difficult to fit in before options were already explored for the prechange to the graduation schedule was the classes begin again for the fall semester. vious two graduating classes of Manhattan fact that the Spring 2017 semester began As an added bonus, the new academic College but proved especially challenging one week earlier than usual, following a calendar now provides students with more to book on a weekend. truncated winter intersession. “A lot of the venues are either not opportunity to utilize the last few weeks of The early start (and therefore finish) to May before the first summer session or po- available or some of them [are] cost prothe spring semester was done primarily to tential internships begin. hibitive or already have something gofacilitate the college’s summer program“We are seeing more interest in May ing on during the weekends,” Clyde said. ming—a growing component of the col- travel now that the semester is ending “The weekends, for other events, not just lege’s offerings, according to Clyde. earlier,” Clyde said. “We are prioritizing commencements, are popular times.” “So there are timings that are standard the summer over the intersession, is what Several area schools utilize off-campus and competitive and attractive for people we’re doing.” venues for weekday graduation ceremotaking summer courses—to our own stuWhen trying to schedule commence- nies. Pace University will be holding their dents as well as anybody else’s students,” ment exercises under the new schedule, 2017 commencement exercises at The Clyde said. “So that kind of prompted us to college administration also kept in mind Theater at Madison Square Garden on a see if we could push the semester to start a the potential length of senior week after fi- Tuesday for their New York City campus, week earlier, because then we could start nals and avoiding conflicts with the Moth- while NYU will use Yankee Stadium on a the summer at a beneficial time.” Wednesday, according to their respective er’s Day holiday on May 14. By ending the spring semester earlier The second factor contributing to the websites. than previously, the college will now be switch from weekend to weekday was forOne nearby “off-site” graduation opable to offer two separate seven-week long ward thinking to the future graduations of tion the college is exploring is Gaelic summer sessions for courses. larger class sizes, such as the Class of 2019 Park. In years past, there were multiple sum- that enrolled at 900 students and retained at However, even Gaelic Park would be mer sessions that varied by school (Gradu- 89%, according to Clyde. difficult to book for a weekend ceremoate Education, School of Continuing ProSpace constraints within Draddy Gym- ny, according to Clyde, as it is used by a fessional Studies, Undergraduate) and nasium, the current location of commence- variety of external organizations such as made registration and scheduling confus- ment ceremonies, would likely limit guest Continued on Page 4 ing to students. tickets to only two per student from such a
2017 De La Salle Medal Honoree Stephen J. Squeri ’81 Manhattan College/ Courtesy
“I am truly grateful for the support from Stephen J. Squeri and American Express Company during this year’s record-breaking De La Salle Medal Dinner raising over $2 million. Steve is a wonderful example of the success and values that come from a Manhattan education,” said Thomas Mauriello, Vice President for College Advancement. Mauriello was also the person in charge of organizing the dinner. The goal was to obtain a little bit more than the $1 million dollars that was raised two years ago, but when the donations started coming in, the office for College Advancement realized they could beat last year’s mark of 1.75 million. The medal has been given to people like Rudolph W. Giuliani ’65, former mayor of New York City, and Thomas D. O’Malley ’63, chairman and CEO of Tosco Corporation. The conference featured speeches by Squeri, President Brennan O’Donnell, and Maxwell Pietrzrak, current student of the Continued on Page 3