College graduation is supposed to be one of the most memorable moments of a person’s life. And it was certainly memorable for several graduates at a Philadelphia university last week, but for all the wrong reasons.
Thomas Jefferson University is under fire for the way the announcer at the nursing school’s graduation ceremony last week severely mispronounced the names of many students. This incident, which has now become a viral sensation on various social media platforms, has cast a shadow over what should have been a joyous occasion.
For example, one of the graduate’s names was Allison Nicole Bishop. However, the graduation announcer pronounced it as “Al-li-soon-a-cole-bee-shup.” Another student with the name Sarah Virginia Brennan was introduced by the graduation announcer as “Sai-er-oo-voon-jean-joo-bree-yan.” Another student named Molly Elizabeth Camp had her name pronounced as “Moll-eena-zabeth-cap.”
Even a student whose name is the same as the university’s had the pronunciation of his name butchered by the announcer.
The student, Thomas, one of the Thomas Jefferson University graduates, had his name pronounced as “Tha-moo-may.”
University officials sought to do damage control after the graduation flub. The school released a statement apologizing for the errors and blamed the incident on how the students’ names were written on the graduation announcer’s cards.
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“The leadership and faculty of Thomas Jefferson University extend our sincerest apologies for the mispronunciations of the names of several of our graduating nursing students during our recent commencement ceremony,” the statement read. “This ceremony is a celebration of the significant achievements of our students, and each graduate deserves to have their name honored correctly on this pivotal day.”
“We also recognize that commencement is not only a milestone for our students but also a deeply important day for their families and loved ones who have supported them throughout their educational journey, and we are deeply sorry for any disappointment this may have caused,” read the statement. “The mispronunciations occurred due to the way phonetic spellings were presented on the speaker’s cards, which was noted when the presenter apologized during the ceremony. This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments.”
