Here’s the plan: The ticket system was scrapped, the student workforce has doubled and there will only be one open convocation event per night.
This semester, convocation has been simplified to improve efficiency and order. The convocation division has decided to sponsor only one event per night, open to all students, as opposed to the old system of two or three a night. Club convocation policies remain unchanged.
Convocation student worker Safeena Padder defended the change for safety reasons. “There would be way too many people trying to get into a certain room, they’d be crowding the doors,” she said. Padder also added that the new limit of one convocation per night would encourage students to get their credits early. “…That way people are more on track about getting their convos in on time and it’s not as crazy at the end of the semester with people running from one convo to the other.”
Diana Shing, Pepperdine’s administrative coordinator for convocation and student-led worship, said this semester is the pilot for the new system of convocation. “It’s an effort to make our office more effective,” she said. “Even if we approve one [event] per evening, students have multiple things they can do to get their 14.”
A limitation of hosting one convocation event per night is that the division will not be able to schedule many student-proposed events. The strengths of the new system include a bolstered staff and the removal of the ticket system.
The student convocation crew present at the events has doubled since last semester. Now that there are 12 workers present at convocation, the division hopes line management and crowd control will run more effectively. The ticket method has also seen changes. The system of ensuring a seat for early arrivers came into effect in the middle of the fall semester, but according to Shing, it caused more chaos than order since the ticket policy was not clear to all students.
Wednesday morning convocations will undergo slight changes with the intention to keep order in the spacious Firestone Fieldhouse. New banners will remind students to avoid cell phone or laptop usage and talking during the events. “The biggest changes to Wednesday convos are more of conduct; we are trying to be friendly but firm,” Padder said.
Shing’s plan for the semester is to run the convocation division with efficiency that hasn’t been seen in the past. “I think the more that they [students] know we are strict about these certain policies and strict about our deadlines and things like that, we can be more efficient for what we do.”
