Twenty years ago, GW announced it would hold its Commencement ceremony on the National Mall, following a long history of hosting the event at various historic venues throughout the District.
Before then, every commencement ceremony between 1992 and 2005 — except the 1995 ceremony, which was canceled due to weather — was held on the Ellipse, the park just south of the White House. But in 2005, National Park Service renovations to the Ellipse’s side panels forced officials to change the venue, leaving the University with just months to procure a new location that could support over 20,000 attendees.
The 2006 ceremony’s site became the plot of land wedged between 4th and 7th streets, between the National Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery of Art, situated directly in front of the Capitol. National Park Service’s current policies allow public events to be hosted on the mall, but private gatherings require a permit and can be held on the Henry Bacon Ball Field and at West Potomac Park.
The University’s decision to seek an outdoor space for the relocated 2006 ceremony was a “near unanimous” decision, according to Michael Freedman, GW’s vice president of communications at the time.
Throughout the first century of GW Commencements, officials held the ceremony at a variety of locations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall on 18th Street and a number of churches.
NPS officials notified the University in spring 2006 that the Ellipse was available for the ceremony after instructing GW to find alternative plans throughout the fall and winter months. After a month and a half of deliberation, officials maintained the decision to hold Commencement on the Mall.
American, Georgetown and Howard universities hold their Commencements on their respective campuses, and Catholic University conducts their ceremony outside of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
At the second Commencement held on the Mall in 2007, former GW President Joel Trachtenberg’s address as the official speaker before ending his time at the University was canceled and replaced by four to five minute speeches made by the recipients of honorary degrees. The decision was met with protests by disappointed students as the University had recruited high profile speakers in past years, including a joint address from former President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush in 2005 and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright in 2000, per Hatchet archives.
Some students skipped the ceremony because of their frustrations and created a Facebook group called “COMMENCEMENT 2007: SJT better NOT be our keynote speaker,” according to the Hatchet’s archives.
In the years ensuing the online drama, civil rights activist Julian Bond addressed graduates on the Mall in 2008, and former First Lady Michelle Obama spoke in 2010. Obama’s position at the time brought about increased security, necessitating attendees to arrive early to go through metal detectors and show photo identification. The 2010 ceremony also nixed the procession of graduates for security purposes, which was met with dismay from students, The Hatchet reported.
Commencement in 2012 underwent another location change on the Mall due to construction on 4th and 7th streets. The ceremony was moved between 7th and 14th streets, alongside the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Building.
“Graduating colonials and families will head toward the Washington monument — the backdrop that will replace the capitol building at this year’s Commencement ceremony — due to construction on the National Mall,” a 2012 Hatchet article read.
An irrigation and turf restoration project in the regular spot between 7th and 14th streets forced the 2015 Commencement to be held between the Washington Monument and the White House.
Ricky Allen, an alum and adjunct professor of health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, said he skipped his first GW Commencement in 2000, where he graduated with a master’s of health services administration, due to family plans he had that day. He said he later considered the decision a “big mistake” after seeing the value of the ceremony’s location as a perk of attending GW.
Allen said the ceremony’s location is something only GW graduates experience, being surrounded by the National History Museum, a slew of monuments and the National Museum of African American History.
“It doesn’t even matter that we’re not sitting on campus. The fact that we’re sitting in such a world-known location as the only chief university that can hold a commencement on the National Mall, how much greater can that be?” Allen said. “So I’m excited knowing that we have this thing that no one else has.”
Allen said the location makes his role as the marshal for Milken at the University-wide Commencement even more valued. He said it is his responsibility to line up “distinguished professors” and lead them down the aisle and that he uses his “directive capability” as a retired Naval Officer to organize professors and is continuously surprised by how compliant they are.
Allen said walking down the Mall as a marshal allows him to realize how far he has come in his career and comes with a mix of emotions.
“I’m one of those ‘Straight Outta Compton’ people, and I’m walking down the center aisle thinking, ‘Wow, how did this happen to me? How did I get to be this guy walking down this aisle?’” Allen said.
