Brownsville mayor hits commencement change

In a Facebook post Thursday night, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen stated he has strong bias over the loss of the UTRGV commencement in the city.

“When I found out about the rumor prior to the official announcement, I immediately met with UTRGV President, Dr. Guy Bailey and Veronica Gonzalez, Senior Vice President for Governmental and Community Relations, and I clearly expressed my disappointment with their decision,” Cowen wrote at 5:39 p.m. Thursday.

He wrote the change is a financial setback for the community.

“This is also a huge loss to our local economy as now thousands of people will be going to restaurants and staying in hotels outside Brownsville for this special weekend,” the mayor wrote.

As previously reported by The Rider, UTRGV President Guy Bailey said the decision was primarily based on surveys from incoming freshmen and graduates from Fall 2023 and Spring 2024.

“There were two groups of people,” Bailey said in an interview Tuesday with The Rider. “One group of people who have been through the commencement and we wanted them to tell us about their experiences … and then the incoming freshmen, just to see their views on it, too.”

In an Oct. 9 interview, Bailey said the cost of an outdoor ceremony is more expensive than holding it in a venue.

“It’s very expensive to do it outdoors in Brownsville,” he said. “I think it’s probably $100,000 a year or more, more than … doing it in Bert Ogden.”

Holding commencement only in Edinburg would cost $320,243.52 less than holding it on each campus, according to expense reports provided by Patrick Gonzales, vice president for Marketing and Communications.

Graduates and incoming freshmen were more accessible to survey for the upcoming commencement ceremony, Bailey said.

“We don’t have any reason to believe that a junior would have any different opinion about this than a sophomore or a freshman,” he said.

Bailey said juniors could not be surveyed because their graduation dates are irregular.

“There are a lot of people who classify as juniors,” he said. “Your graduation could be two years down the road, one year down the road, three years down the road. If we do juniors, why not sophomores, why not freshmen after their first semester?”

Bailey said the survey was brought up in meetings with Student Affairs and Academic Affairs groups.

“They ask constantly, ‘How can we make this better?’” he said. “‘What can we do? What’s going wrong? What’s going right?’ And again, they solicit student feedback, student surveys. And so, the ideas came up in those kinds of meetings.”

Cowen wrote in his post that the “original purpose” for the creation of UTRGV was to increase resources and growth of both campuses.

“As of May of this year, UTRGV has committed $210m in investment in Brownsville facilities and $312m in Edinburg representing a higher investment per student for the Brownsville campus,” he wrote. “This is very much appreciated (and needed), but there is definitely more to be done.”

Communication Professor William F. Strong said the decision should have included more students, faculty and parents.

“I think that interviewing freshmen–what do they know?” Strong said in an Oct. 17 interview. “This is a long way from graduation, and they don’t have, at their age, the communal perspective.”

The president said it is difficult to identify whether a student is Brownsville- or Edinburg-based.

“For example, if you live in Edinburg but you’re a biomedical science major, you’re gonna take, probably, most of your courses in Brownsville,” Bailey said. “If you’re a Ph.D. student in human genetics, you take most of your courses in Brownsville. If you’re an engineering student … regardless of where you live, you’re going to take most of your courses in Edinburg.”

He said the university has attempted to host an indoor commencement for Brownsville three times in the past 10 years.

“One time, we had weather delayed,” Bailey said. “We had a hurricane, or something, come through, and so we hosted events at Jacob Brown [Auditorium]. I think we had eight or nine ceremonies to get that done, and we had a much smaller graduating class back then.”

He said another example was when the university moved commencement to Harlingen, which had the same issues as the Jacob Brown Auditorium.

“Moving it to Harlingen didn’t seem to make people any happier than moving it to Edinburg,” Bailey said. “… We got a lot of criticism, actually, for moving it to Harlingen.”

Bailey said the decision to move the ceremony was made by a commencement committee and the institution.

“We certainly inform and get feedback from [the Student Government Association] and also from Faculty Senate executive leadership,” he said.

On Oct. 8 and 14, The Rider emailed Manuel Chacon, Brownsville director of Communications and Marketing, to request an interview with Cowen. In an Oct. 16 phone call, Chacon responded that Cowen was “out of town.”

The Rider emailed SGA President Odalys Saenz to request an interview.

“Thank you for reaching out,” Saenz replied in an email. “I have decided not to participate in an interview at this time.”

The Rider contacted Faculty Senate President Christopher Gabler and Staff Senate President Rolando Segovia, but both declined to comment.

Cowen wrote in his post that commencement is “one of the most important occasions in a person’s life.”

“By moving the ceremony, they have created an additional barrier for students’ families (while I do understand that UTRGV plans to provide free transportation to Edinburg for this event),” he wrote.

Strong said the matter of commencement is not just an issue with students.

“The commencement is for parents and grandparents and the community at large,” he said. “There’s not just a student opinion that should be driving this. The biggest problem here is the signal that it sends to the Brownsville community.”

Bailey said he understands and has empathy for students upset over the decision.

“I think all of us enjoy going down [to Brownsville],” he said. “[We] enjoy interacting with families there. Many of us have family in that area. And, you know, it’s disappointing to all of us. … On the other hand, the issues of safety, comfort and the wishes of our students really have to take precedence over everything.”

Cowen said local leadership needs to work with UTRGV to ensure the university’s future.

“I am committed to continue to advocate to move this ceremony back to Brownsville for our students and also push to have more local class programming, better student life, and a return of UTRGV athletics to Brownsville,” he wrote.