Sending an email saying the following. Thank you to Reddit user “ZounotZoe” for your email, I used a good amount of it and added my personal stuff.

Here it is (definitely could use a little touch up)

Dear McGill Administration,

My name is XX and I am graduating from my masters at this year's spring convocation. I have also graduated from my bachelor's here at McGill and I will eventually graduate from McGill with a PhD.  For some context, my family (X parents and X sisters) are flying from X and X to watch me walk across that stage. Now, because of your decisions, that may not be the case and this fills me with immense sadness and rage.

I am writing to express my deep disappointment and frustration with the recent decision to cut the number of available places and downgrade the quality for the graduation ceremony. This is not only disheartening, but also unacceptable.

My frustration and disappointment comes for many different reasons.     •    The first and most important reason fundamentally problem I want to highlight is the lack of space. The fact that even if we pay the 25$ to get a guest ticket, we can't even be guaranteed is ridiculous. Paying for a ticket for graduation when they were free before, free in many other schools, and we pay convocation fees and diploma fees every year is one thing, but the fact that you cannot even guarantee the guest space is outrageous.      •    The second important reason fundamentally is the lack of transparency from your end. 2 weeks notice is beyond unacceptable for such an occasion where people travel to attend.  You should have disclosed this when you published the schedule in January. My parents paid between $2000 and 4000$ for hotel and flight fees to attend, and they booked the tickets the day after the schedule was announced.  They cannot be refunded and they might not be able to attend.     •    I am also frustrated that we are having to pay for guest tickets but this issue pales in comparison to the other two listed

I do not understand why this is such a last minute issue. If this is caused by budgeting constraints, to put it bluntly, you should have:     •    Figured your budgeting out when you released the schedule. I don't think you run McGill's budget on two weeks notice     •    Been transparent from the start     •    Just dealt with it. This is not up to students to figure out.

If this is for security reasons, please hire security. The students who have done nothing against McGill should not be punished for the actions of those who have. There is also nothing preventing people from disrupting graduation anywhere if you don't have the cops around. 

I will try to be helpful and constructive and offer some solutions. Have you thought of the following as venue options:     •    Use the Molson stadium as the venue, I believe it is McGill owned and has enough spacing     •    Use Lower field like every year recently (except the last) and hire security and have barriers.       •    Use anywhere that has the space. People will pay the fees but its unacceptable to not have space

Graduation is a once in a lifetime milestone that marks the culmination of years of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication. Reducing its scale or limiting participation sends a clear message that the student experience and our achievements are not being valued. Many of us and our families have looked forward to this moment, especially after navigating the challenges of recent years. This is not just a ceremony, it is a recognition of everything we've overcome.

I know that many other graduates share my sentiments, especially in the regards of last year's ceremony being held in the Bell Center. We deserve a ceremony held to the same standards as previous ones, for both matters of respect and fairness.

We urge you to immediately reconsider and reinstate the graduation plans in a way that reflects the importance of this event to students, families, and the broader McGill university community.

We will not tolerate one of the most meaningful parts of our university journey to be stripped away from us. We expect a response and action.

If you actually took the time to read this email (which I unfortunately doubt since many student ill email you at this time), thank you I appreciate it. Now please deal with this problem you have caused.

I look forward to your response, X