The song sheet for Diploma Day in 1890.
Graduation and Celebrations
20 November 2023
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Graduation or capping ceremonies have evolved greatly over the course of the University’s history. Events gave students a chance to revel in their success, but they were also an opportunity to share with friends, family, and the wider community. Celebrations initially involved just the ceremony at which degrees were conferred, known as Diploma Day. The ceremony was strictly formal, with speeches given by the relevant officials. These affairs were rather laborious, with little entertainment for students. The ceremony hit rock bottom in 1893, when Professor John Macmillan Brown and Heinrich von Haast both spoke for an hour each. Canterbury College was characterised as a place of “Long vacations, long lectures, long songs, long speeches on Diploma Day..."
From the 1880s onwards, students attempted to inject some humour into the ceremonies. In 1889 specially composed student songs were sung for the first time. The songs often celebrated the bawdy aspects of student life or lampooned professors, some of which were not appreciated by the University Council. However, when the authorities attempted to ban songs at the ceremony in 1900, the action prompted a boycott, when students refused to sit through the event without musical relief.
The song sheet for Diploma Day in 1890.
By 1923 students had grown so boisterous that the chairman, Rector and Mayor were all but silenced by the songs, hakas and interjections. Such revelry was expected by some, but loathed by others. Professor Macmillan Brown hated it to such a degree that during his time as Chancellor in the 1920s he refused to confer degrees, instead distributing them through the mail.
Not to be outdone by previous years, the students of the class of 1952 managed to rig the theatre so that a halo and a dove descended above Bishop Warren’s head during the ceremony, while Lincoln students attending brought a goat on to the stage to receive a diploma. In the same year, students took control of the public address system and drowned out Chancellor Hulme’s speech, leading to the theatre doors being locked prior to the ceremony in future years. After 1953, Diploma Day returned to its more decorous beginnings.
Local businesses took an active interest in graduation day ceremonies.
Graduates from 1879 pose in front of the Clock Tower. Graduation photographs taken in thenorth quadrangle became a tradition for each new generation of students at the town site.
