UW-O grads get diplomas, handshakes

OSHKOSH - On Saturday, a record-breaking 1,400 UW-Oshkosh graduates walked the aisle in two separate ceremonies that were held at the Kolf Sports Center on campus.

"I'm excited. I'm happier and more excited than I thought I was going to be," Craig Rose, a graduating senior at UW-Oshkosh, said.

"It's been a lot of work but I'm really proud of myself for doing it," Jesse Smet, a graduating senior at UW-Oshkosh, said.

Graduation day is the culmination of years of hard work and studies.  It's also as much about the future as it is past traditions.

That's why, for decades, UW-Oshkosh students, dressed in cap and gown, have walked across the stage to receive their diploma with a handshake or the occasional hug.

But this year ... Students were almost left hanging.

Out of fears of spreading the H1-N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, the university originally planned to exclude handshakes from this year's program.  After receiving complaints from a number of students, coupled with changing national health guidelines, school leaders decided to change their stance on the issue.  Instead, they said it would be left up to students to initiate the gesture.

Chancellor Richard Wells said only about a dozen students decided not to offer up their hand at Saturday's morning ceremony.

"We basically relaxed the requirement around the handshake, if the student would initiate it, I would be greatly honored to shake their hand," Wells said.

The school also offered students the option of a sterile shake.  A bottle of hand sanitizer was placed at the front of the stage to make graduating seniors feel more at ease.

Many graduates said receiving a handshake from the chancellor was an important part of the day.

"It mattered a lot to me.   I think it was sense of closure.  I put that much time into something, I should see it through and get the whole experience and help solidify what I've done," Rose said.

"I don't think it would be complete with out," Diana Baumann, a graduating senior at UW-Oshkosh, said.  "What, just take the diploma and walk away? No, I need the handshake," she added.

"I was kind of indifferent to it. I understand why they felt the need to do it but as the same time it really didn't phase me all that much," Smet.

Students said the whole handshake controversy is memorable, but the accomplishment of graduating was the real memory made on Saturday.

"Hopefully that's not the part we will remember about it," Rose said about the handshake controversy.

U-W Oshkosh is located in downtown Oshkosh in Winnebago County.  Despite the concerns, the county has had no confirmed cases of H1-N1.