Diplomas return to graduation

Brooks Powell, Staff Writer, blpowell@smu.edu

Issue date: 10/21/09 Section: News

Student Body President Patrick Kobler announced Tuesday that diplomas will return to SMU's commencement exercises this spring.

Diplomas were mailed to May 2009 graduates rather than being handed to them as they crossed the stage at their respective ceremonies during commencement.

The temporary exclusion of the documents from graduation was due to several factors, including professors' challenges with submitting grades to the registrar's office in a timely manner and the subsequent processing required by the registrar to have diplomas printed and ready for distribution by commencement.

"I think this is really a great demonstration of how the student voice does have power," Kobler said.

Kobler worked with Provost Paul Ludden through the summer and fall semesters to ensure that this change was made on behalf of the student body, and he considers it a major victory.

Student senators introduced several pieces of legislation, including a resolution establishing Peruna, the black Shetland pony, as the University's official mascot.

The piece was drafted after this weekend's home football game when Madeline Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, gave SMU two horses as a gift.

Mrs. Pickens is heavily involved with the National Wild Horse Foundation, an organization that helps prevent the abuse and mistreatment of horses, according to its Web site.

Pickens has begun her own Dallas-based organization to further the group's mission and provide support for the establishment of a wild horse sanctuary. Many notable public figures have been recruited to its leadership: SMU Football Coach June Jones as chairman, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys football club, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and singer/songwriter Toby Keith.

Student Senate Membership Committee Chair Jack Benage and Senator Jake Torres said that the purpose of their proposal is to extend appreciation for Pickens's gesture and also eliminate potential confusion over which horse - or horses - are the true mascots for SMU.

"If [Pickens's] mustangs are on the field, they are going to be representing us regardless of whether or not another school understands that [Peruna] is our official … mascot," Benage said.

Benage alleged that Jones has been publicly opposed to having a Shetland pony as a mascot from the moment he arrived at SMU, providing a motive to adopt the new horses as replacements. The conditions of the Pickens gift allow Jones to use the horses in any way he chooses.

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