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The pomp and circumstance of school graduations might have a little less pomp this year.
Supply-chain issues, fueled by staffing shortages and pandemic-related shutdowns in China, created a logjam for the nation’s suppliers of commencement regalia, the mortarboard caps and gowns traditionally used by American high school and college graduates.
Those conditions have “created downstream effects this graduation season, and we are very sorry these delays have inconvenienced students, parents and faculty at the schools we serve,” said Nicole Lauchaire, senior vice president of corporate communications at Varsity Brands, whose Herff Jones division is a major player in graduation and school spirit products.
Southern Methodist University is experiencing such delays, noting that Herff Jones is “scrambling to ensure that we have enough,” said spokesperson Dianne Anderson.
The supplier sent an overnight shipment on Wednesday to students who had not yet received their regalia as well as provided additional shipments to the SMU bookstore for backup, Anderson said.
The private university’s bookstore is extending its hours this weekend to provide caps and gowns to anyone who may still need to pick them up.
Other Texas colleges — but none locally — have experienced such delays. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday of shortages at the University of Houston and Rice University.
The University of Texas at Dallas, UT-Tyler, Texas Woman’s University, Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas are among the local schools that have not experienced such shortages; similarly, Dallas-area high schools, including those in Dallas ISD, have not reported delays.
Lauchaire said that her company remained “committed to delivering graduation regalia to every school in time for their graduation ceremonies — college and high school alike.”
SMU holds its commencement ceremonies Friday and Saturday.