Providence city leaders demand action after graduation celebration ignores orders

(WJAR) — On Sunday, members of the Providence city council spoke out against a graduation celebration that ignored state orders.

Students lined the streets as families drove by congratulating them on their accomplishments on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Providence College told NBC 10 that a group of parents organized the parade that brought hundreds of students outside.

People who celebrated did not follow social distancing rules, upsetting city council members.

“After hearing from many neighbors, the community is upset and rightfully so,” said Providence Councilman of the 14th Ward David Salvatore.

For the past week or so, students from Providence College have been gathering in large groups, celebrating their graduation, ignoring rules by the city and state, he said.

“The disrespect that has been shown over the last several days, I think is indicative of an overall culture on this street that the rules don’t necessarily apply them,” said Salvatore.

Salvatore wishes students would have celebrated their graduation in a more respectful way.

One student, who wants to remain anonymous, said he is happy the parents were able to pull off that kind of send-off.

“As much as it made people uncomfortable, that’s not what our intention was... it was a pretty amazing thing. It wasn’t closure but it was something to end our time here in Providence,” said the student.

The recent graduate says Saturday’s celebration could have been a lot worse.

This has councilors Salvatore and Jo-Ann Ryan demanding change moving forward before students move back in the fall.

Ryan is calling on the college to step up.

“Take responsibility for the children and the student who are living off-campus. I think from a legislative perspective we can do a lot to request they put a mitigation plan,” Ryan said.

There will be a council meeting in the next several days to discuss new rules.

Police told NBC 10 that no fines have been given out and the people were cooperative when asked to disperse.

In a statement, Associate Vice President of Public Affairs, Government and Community Relations Steven Maurano apologized on behalf of the college:

Earlier today, a group of parents of PC seniors took it upon themselves to organize a parade down Eaton St. as a congratulatory send-off to seniors living in the neighborhood apartments who are having their degrees conferred tomorrow. (Our actual Commencement is postponed to October 31st, but the students' degrees will be conferred tomorrow, officially making them graduates of the college.)

A parent called the College earlier this week to ask about organizing the parade and we told her that the College could not be involved in the parade nor could we sanction it. We asked her to contact Providence Police if this was something parents wanted to do.

As the parade took place, a large number of students living in the area turned out to watch it. Many of them were not wearing masks nor were they practicing social distancing. While it is understandable that these students and their families were looking for a way to celebrate their graduation, they did not exhibit good judgement or the appropriate respect for the local community by disobeying Governor Raimondo's executive order regarding how to behave in public during this pandemic.

On behalf of the College, I apologize to the Elmhurst and Smith Hill communities for their behavior.