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Friday, July 11, 2025

Diploma Debate: Why Are Longwood Students’ Diplomas Vague?

“If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all.” That’s how some things should be.

That’s how it should be in some academic aspects. There are professors I have learned much from and some I couldn’t tell you anything they said because they tend to talk at you rather than to you on a daily basis. After sitting through these boring lectures from monotone professors who obviously do not enjoy their profession anymore, I deserve something to hang on my wall that I can be proud of.

After three of my best friends graduated in December (one from Longwood, one from Virginia Tech and one from Radford) I noticed something very strange when comparing the pictures of their beloved diplomas. The diplomas that we receive from Longwood do not state what major we were.

You didn’t notice this, did you? I dare you to look at some of your graduated friends’ diplomas. They will say “So-and-so graduated from blah blah University with a Bachelor of Arts in English or a 

Bachelor of Science in Biology.” You won’t get any of that at Longwood. When they mail you your diploma it will only say that you graduated with either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science.

The major you fell in love with and studied so hard for years is suddenly out of the picture, never to be heard from again.

I know some people on campus don’t care that their diploma doesn’t say what degree they graduated with; the joy of having an official diploma from an accredited four year university is all that matters to them. I’m sorry, but that’s not okay with me. I understand that getting a degree is what’s “really” important, but not being able to frame my diploma that says that I worked four years to earn my English degree with a concentration in Creative Writing is irritating, to say the least.

I can’t say that I know why our diplomas do not say what major we earned our Bachelor’s degrees in, but I know that they did, at one point in time, specify which major the student earned. There have been rumors that the diplomas changed during the presidency of Dr. Cormier. None of the students who currently attend Longwood know for sure when it changed, but most of us want to know why it hasn’t been changed back. There have been petitions to have the text on the diplomas returned to the original (and what is the norm at other universities), but why haven’t the students’ pleas been acknowledged?

Senior Michelle Stefko doesn’t agree with the way diplomas are at Longwood. “I think it’s disappointing because I have worked very hard for four years to earn my degree in Biology, but my diploma will not display the specifics of my Bachelor of Science degree. I could have a Bachelor of Science in many different fields, but I don’t – my degree is in Biology, not Chemistry or Physics or one of the other many science majors. I’m proud of my degree, and if I’m going to hang my diploma in my office when I make it big in the medical field, I want people to know that I majored in Biology.”

My sister graduated from Virginia Tech and when asked how she would have felt if her diploma didn’t mention what she had her degree in, she responded, “I would have hated it. I don’t know why schools even give diplomas to students if they’re not going to be specific in what degree they earned. I have my Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics, and I wouldn’t be as excited to have framed and hung my degree on the wall of my office showing people that piece of paper if it didn’t say that.”

The quotation from the beginning of this article belongs to our diplomas, to a certain degree. If the school cannot put the specifics of the degree on our diplomas, why bother giving us paper diplomas. It’s a big deal if we graduate with a Bachelor in Arts or Science, but it’s a bigger deal which major we had within these departments. It’s obvious that the students want our diplomas changed back to the way they used to be, so why haven’t the authorities changed them?

The graduates of Longwood are proud to be here, proud of the departments that we belong to, but why won’t the school give us a diploma to be equally proud of? I’m going to be happy to have a diploma from this university, but I’d be even happier to be able to show off that I graduated with a degree in English from Longwood for the rest of my life.

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