On Monday, May 4, the University of Indianapolis will provide some of its senior spring-sport student-athletes with pomp, under the circumstances.

The special graduation ceremony on the Indianapolis campus is a supplemental version of the school’s regularly scheduled festivities on Saturday and continues a tradition of honoring student-athletes who are otherwise prevented from attending with the rest of their class.

This weekend, for example, the Great Lakes Valley Conference is staging its softball championship tournament in Peoria, Illinois, which means the seniors on the Indianapolis squad will be thinking about line drives rather than lining up to receive their diplomas. A few Greyhound golfers and track student-athletes will be out of town, too.

But Indianapolis Athletics Director Sue Willey said that shouldn’t stop them from experiencing the same academic rewards as their student peers. So she and Indianapolis President Beverley Pitts have made it a tradition to give those student-athletes their parchment due – just a couple of days late.

“Having been a longtime softball coach, I felt very bad that it just happens that our conference softball tournament is on the weekend of graduation, so that affects softball student-athletes every year,” Willey said. “The spring-sport schedules also affect track athletes and golfers through no fault of their own.”

The supplemental service is on the Monday after graduation at 5 p.m. for student-athletes and their parents. Willey and Pitts dress up in their academic regalia and conduct a “mini-ceremony.”

“It gives the student-athletes not only the chance to receive their diplomas in person instead of just having to go to the registrar’s office afterward but also to have pictures taken with the president just like at regular graduation,” Willey said. “Parents appreciate the gesture, and they also appreciate the fact that it’s not a two-hour ceremony!”

The school’s spring-sport squads do what they can to avoid having to make these arrangements. The baseball team, for example, worked with Bellarmine to schedule away contests this weekend on Friday and Sunday rather than Saturday-Sunday. But for those Indy student-athletes who can’t avoid conflicts, Willey makes sure they aren’t short-changed.

“I feel so privileged that our president is so supportive of this tradition,” Willey said. “It’s no small feat, either, since Dr. Pitts now has three graduation ceremonies – one for graduate students on Friday, the one for undergraduates on Saturday and then the third for student-athletes on Monday.”

In addition, a new wrinkle this year has the women Greyhound golfers in regional competition on Monday and Tuesday (and travel over the weekend), meaning that they’ll probably have an even smaller pomp and circumstance on Wednesday or a date to be determined.

“Yes, we’ll probably do a little something in Dr. Pitts’ office so that the lone senior woman golfer has a nice experience as well,” Willey said. “Every one of these outstanding seniors deserves the attention that comes with graduation. It is, after all, the crescendo to their college experience.”