Thousands of UNM graduates walk — into the next chapter

Grace Marks couldn’t fight back the emotion.

Although she graduated high school several years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, Saturday was the first time Marks felt the achievement firsthand — walking across the stage and taking hold of her diploma to applause and cheers from thousands inside the Pit in Albuquerque.

“It was crazy,” said Marks, who earned her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary arts. “I’ve never been recognized before, so when they said, ‘Stand up, Class of 2024,’ I just got tears in my eyes.”

And she was far from alone.

The University of New Mexico commencement was the first in-person graduation for many of the 1,920 undergraduates. And there wasn’t an empty seat in the sunken-in arena famed for its raucous basketball face-offs.

Nearly 3,000 students graduated this spring. As the students made their way down to their seats, they donned decorated caps, colorful regalia and a beaming sense of pride.

Graduates were handed bachelor’s and master’s degrees, doctorates and certificates across a variety of fields: fine arts, medicine, writing, music, education and more. Regent Emeritus and Anderson School Dean Emeritus Douglas M. Brown and former U.S. Sen. Fred Harris were honored with a Doctorate of Humane Letters for their contributions to the university as well.

The celebration was joined by the alumni emeriti from the classes of 1974-1976, who welcomed the students into their new status as alumni.

As the ceremony proceeded, UNM Executive Director for Student Support Pam Agoyo reminded the audience to “focus on expressions of congratulation and joy,” subtly addressing the presence of potential pro-Palestine demonstrators, similar to those seen at other commencement ceremonies in the country.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland delivered the commencement address to a cheerful and welcoming applause from her alma mater. She celebrated the sense of community that she said she found at UNM, and urged the graduates to look for that same kind of community in their post-grad lives.

“My job and the places it takes me remind me time and again that community has always been and will always be everything,” Haaland said. Without community, she said, initiatives that she works on for clean energy and natural resource preservation would not be possible.

Reflecting on her journey from a part-time bakery worker to a member of the White House Cabinet, Haaland said, “My hard work proved a lot of people wrong. Yours will, too.”

Haaland also encouraged students to become change-makers in the world, saying, “There’s a lot in this world designed to make us cynical people, to make us lose hope in the future so that we opt out of the process of making real, necessary change. Join me in rejecting that notion.”

Several students wanted to make their opinions known, wearing kaffiyehs, Palestine flag stoles and signs with pro-Palestine messages. As these students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, they pumped their fists and held up their flags. One student, standing in front of UNM President Garnett Stokes on stage, held a sign that read, “UNM Funds Genocide, Divest Now.”

The displays came less than two weeks after more than a dozen protesters, including several UNM students, occupied the Student Union Building and clashed with police.

Such occupations and protests have become common on campuses across the nation, and a pro-Palestinian encampment remains at UNM’s Duck Pond.

Saturday didn’t see any such flashpoints. Instead, Board of Regents Vice Chair Jack Fortner shared Haaland’s sentiment on the strength of the community built by the students. He noted how, despite challenges like the pandemic, the Lobos found spirit in clubs, sports and achievements, such as the recent Mountain West championship win for the men’s basketball team.

“That is something you’ll always get to remember,” Fortner said.

Justin Lauriano, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, left his fellow classmates with a final message in his speech: “Graduation isn’t the end of your education, it’s the beginning of a lifelong treasure hunt for knowledge.

“Now go out there and show the world what it means to be a Lobo.”