President Annarelli listens and addresses students concerns at the protest. Photo by Mia Henrich.<\/p>\n
Eckerd\u2019s 2026 commencement ceremony will take place on Kappa Field, winning with 85% in a vote sparked by relocation controversy regarding the unexpected change of graduation announced earlier this month.<\/p>\n
There were 249 verified senior votes, around 15% of which were for the Bradenton Area Convention Center, according to ECOS president Emma Kelliher. There are 440 students currently registered for IJ, according to Robbyn Hopewell, assistant vice president of communications.<\/p>\n
Marjorie Sanfilippo, vice president of student success, on behalf of the commencement committee, sent out an email to Eckerd College seniors on Tuesday, informing them of the results from the vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn education in the liberal arts helps to foster the democratic ideals we value, including your right to express your voice and be heard. Last week, the college leadership heard you, and based on the subsequent poll, we have decided to hold Commencement 2026 on Kappa Field with unlimited seating,\u201d wrote Sanfilippo.<\/p>\n
The commencement committee is still concerned about heat and accessibility issues, and are committed to mitigate these challenges to the best of their ability. One route they are taking so far is providing additional on-campus venues for air-conditioned live-streaming options.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne factor we cannot control is the weather; in the unfortunate situation of heavy rains and\/or lightning, the backup location for Commencement will be McArthur Gymnasium,\u201d wrote Sanfilippo.<\/p>\n
If the ceremony is moved to the gymnasium, there will only be two guest seatings per graduate.\u00a0She added that if the unexpected weather event were to happen overnight or early in the morning, it may only be possible to accommodate graduates and faculty in McArthur, with guests having to relocate to live-streaming venues elsewhere on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI admire the true spirit of all seniors who rallied immediately and had all the energy. They pushed through and achieved a successful ending,\u201d wrote Joel Andersen, a senior.<\/p>\n
The vote stemmed from the senior Imagining Justice walkout on Oct. 21, which went from a protest to a discussion with President James Annarelli in the Upham Administration building. It drew over 150 students, all protesting the decision of the Bradenton Area Convention Center as the new graduation location.<\/p>\n
Following the protest, Seniors were emailed by Sanfilippo and Kelliher. In this email, students were offered the choice between commencement taking place on Kappa Field or the Bradenton Area Convention Center.<\/p>\n
Students were encouraged to think wisely about the decision, specifically in the number of guests they could bring to the respective locations and weather concerns. Kappa Field would allow for unlimited guests and a live streaming option for guests sensitive to the heat in Miller Auditorium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bradenton Area Convention Center would allow for eight guests, a live streaming option and transportation.<\/p>\n
All of this started on Oct. 16, when Sanfilippo announced that the commencement committee, due to being concerned with heat, weather, accessibility issues and a lack of local alternatives, decided commencement would be moved off campus to the newly renovated Bradenton Area Convention Center.<\/p>\n
Kelliher, on Oct. 20, sent an email to the student body. In this email she said that after discussing with the Eckerd administration about student frustration, there was possible reconsideration for commencement to be back on campus. Although Kappa Field wouldn\u2019t be reconsidered, the two options were the Bradenton Area Convention Center and the McArthur Gym.<\/p>\n
With enough student voices and engagement, however, Kappa Field was not only an option, but it is the place where commencement will be held in May 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Annarelli listens and addresses students concerns at the protest. Photo by Mia Henrich. Eckerd\u2019s 2026 commencement ceremony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[115,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-26166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}