A university today warned its students not to throw their mortarboards in the air at their graduation ceremonies because it was too dangerous and could hurt them.
Students have tossed the square cap with tassels into the sky to mark their graduation from university since 1912. But Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge, is trying to put an end to the tradition because it deems it a safety hazard.
It says several years ago a student needed stitches after he was hit on the head by a flying mortarboard on his graduation day…
The university said that their supplier of graduation robes, Ede and Ravenscroft, supported the decision. But students and safety experts have mocked the university’s advice as “health and safety gone mad”.
Pull your underwear up over your head if you’re worried.
Shouldn’t someone sue Ede and Ravenscroft for manufacturing an unsafe mortarboard?
Of course it is too dangerous. This is the generation that grew up with sports where they don’t keep score, dodge-ball and tag were banned and they weren’t allowed outside the protective view of parents until they were in their teens.
I’m surprised they haven’t banned toilet paper for fear of paper cuts.
I made a model of Godzilla attacking a city on my mortarboard. No way was I going to throw that.
I throw my hat anyway. What are they going to do? Expel me?
Its all fun and games, until someone gets an eye put out.
Oh, and they should probably also be careful about that two- and three-day binge drinking and jumping off of balconies and stuff. That might just be as dangerous as throwing mortarboards. sheesh.
And you know those “Terrorist” Mortar Board Tossers are NAKED UNDER THEIR ROBES !!! Pure ARNACHY !!! Get the Tasers and BeanBag Guns ready boys, NO ONE IS HAVING ANY FUN AT THIS GRADUATION !!!
Well, the heat sinks on those motherboards can be sharp…
No really, this is starting to piss me off.
When I graduated, I threw my outboard mortar into the air.
Nothing new. When I graduated high school in (ahem!) 1980, in California, ours was the first class to have soft mortarboards because of the possibility of injury from the previously used hard ones. I still have the floppy thing stashed away somewhere.
Funny. It didn’t keep my best friend from winding up in the hospital for 2 weeks after graduation night. Motorcycles are so much more dangerous….
It doesn’t take an announcement to students. That is purely to ward off future liability claims. I always find this stuff has more to due with “advice from our lawyers” than any love of PC dogma. You want to stop the throwing of mortarboards? Stop forcing the students to wear them. You know damn well it’s not their idea.
But students and safety experts have mocked the university’s advice as “health and safety gone mad”.
And they are right…
How many billions of these stupid hats have been ceremonially tossed? And one guy needed stitches? That is what we call a great safety record.
nothing new. my high school graduation in 89 banned us also and threatened us with holding back graduation(certificate presented was only a stand in, real cert would come in mail). they handed out soft mini frisbees. lame
Even more dangerous than the mortarboard is the tassel, which is easily separated from the cap and represents a tremendous choking hazard if an unsuspecting graduate places it in their mouth.
How many graduates must perish before we realize how dangerous commencement ceremonies can be?
What else are they teaching the poor kids.