On Monday, graduates in the Class of 2024 convened at Franklin Field for Penn’s 268th Commencement ceremony.

Held only 48 hours after pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempted to take over Fisher-Bennett Hall, the event occurred without interruption and featured a procession through Penn Park, as well as a ceremony with speeches and song. 

The Daily Pennsylvanian’s photographers captured the various scenes of Monday’s Commencement ceremony. 

The procession began at Penn Park. Graduates, faculty, and the Penn Band gathered at Dunning-Cohen Champions Field to march to Franklin Field, while spectators lined up along the path of the procession.

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As the procession entered Franklin Field, many graduates stopped to take photos with their fellow classmates. Family members and friends descended to the bottom rows of the bleachers to snap photos of their graduates.  

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Throughout the ceremony, Philadelphia Police Department vans and trucks dotted the streets near Franklin Field due to prior weeks of campus unrest and in expectation of possible disruption. Following a policy instituted this year, all attendees were required to go through airport-style security in order to access the stadium. 

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University Board of Trustees Chair Ramanan Raghavendran opened the ceremony, followed by College senior Megan Higgins performing the national anthem. During the ceremony, Interim Penn President Larry Jameson addressed the crowd. His speech lasted only five minutes — nearly 10 minutes shorter than previous presidential Commencement addresses. 

Following Jameson, the keynote speaker Siddhartha Mukherjee — a professor of medicine at Columbia University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author — urged students to view graduation among life’s other moments of transformation. Using the symbolism of viewing life as a series of births and deaths, Mukherjee underscored the importance of love and forgiveness as students embark on their post-graduation journeys. 

During the ceremony, some graduates wore keffiyehs and decorated their graduation caps in support of Palestinians. 

Finally, the Class of 2024, a group whose time at Penn fit neatly between the COVID-19 pandemic and a year of campus unrest, concluded their Penn experience with the traditional practice of throwing their graduation caps.