Dear Professor and Chair,

From the moment we made the decision to attend UCLA for our Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, we envisioned our graduation day. The time when we would celebrate this milestone in our lives with peers and family. We have spent the last two years toiling alongside one another: many late nights in the lab, long conversations about our own futures and the future of our cities. We have been there for one another as we have written, and rewritten essays, helped each other with statistics problem sets, reviewed a friend's resume and cover letter, made dinner together, celebrated the end of each exam, quarter, and year, on the journey towards our degree. It is natural, then, that we feel disheartened by the news that some of our classmates will not be crossing the stage alongside us.

A graduation ceremony may be purely symbolic, but for some of our families and friends it is of huge importance - many of us will be the first in our family to receive a master's degree. We believe that it is every student's right to be able to celebrate this achievement not only with their families, but with their fellow students as well.

For a variety of reasons, a number of our us won't be officially graduating in June. Some of us have experienced unexpected loss, others have welcomed new lives into our families. We believe that it is important to consider every individual within the context of their own lives. These challenges have forced us to grow individually, but also collectively; we are all enriched by this diversity of struggle and of strength. We are all each other's stories.

It is our understanding that each department and school sets their own rules for graduation. The Fielding School of Public Health allow their students to walk even if they did not pass their comprehensive exams, and the School of Law allows students who have yet to fulfill requirements walk at graduation as well. UCLA Undergraduates can petition to walk on stage for the Spring even if they are not due to complete their coursework until the following Winter Quarter. Why shouldn't Urban Planning be the same?

We believe that the Department of Urban Planning’s graduation policy is not in line with the values that we have as a program and as a cohort and with the overall UCLA campus mission of equity and inclusion. We strongly urge the department to let ALL students share the same stage come June 12th.

In Solidarity,

UCLA Masters Candidates ‘2015 ‘2016

Let Them Walk Luskin