An Unwelcome Guest at Graduation

Commencement-day mishaps and missteps are commonplace — whether an injury by mortarboard, a fall from the dais, or a butchered rendition of the national anthem.

Sometimes Mother Nature is the culprit, as was the case last Saturday at the Stetson University College of Law, amid the verdant setting of the Florida college’s Plaza Mayor. 

As Royal C. Gardner tells it, students were on the stage, presenting the class gift, when a ripple of activity passed through the faculty section. A snake was slithering through their midst, between, under, and — in some cases — over their feet. No one screamed, he said, but a few professors were frightened.

Eventually it stopped at the foot of the stairs leading to the platform, and Mr. Gardner and two other environmental-law professors stepped forward to investigate. After examining its colors, they concluded it was a nonvenomous black racer. Mr. Gardner tossed his mortarboard over its head, seized it by the tail, and freed it in some nearby bushes. The ceremony proceeded with minimal disruption.

“A number of people thanked me for saving the faculty from the snake,” he says. “I was actually trying to save the snake from the faculty.”

Got any odd or amusing stories from this year’s commencement? Send a note to tweed@chronicle.com, with “Tweed commencement” in the subject line. —Don Troop