Diploma Withheld After Graduate Snubs Principal..Administrator Demands Explanation

[MORTARDUDE]

Diploma Withheld After Graduate Snubs Principal
Administrator Demands Explanation For Handshake Refusal

INDIANAPOLIS -- The principal at Southport High School in Indianapolis, Ind., says he's withholding a senior's diploma until she explains why she refused to shake his hand at the school's graduation ceremony.

But although 18-year-old Kelsey Dunning says she wants the document, she has refused to give Principal Terry Thompson a reason for the snub.

"Just because I don't want to shake his hand, I don't feel that's any reason not to get a diploma," Dunning (pictured, left) said.


Dunning declined to shake Thompson's hand when her name was called during the school's May 23 ceremony. In response, Thompson didn't give her a diploma.

Thompson said Dunning's move was a sign of disrespect. He said he had warned students in two letters last month that dignity and honor would be expected at the event.

"I don't think it was an appropriate gesture on her part," Thompson said. "I just want an explanation ... of what the problem was and why she did that in such a manner that would bring attention to herself."

Thompson (pictured, left) said Dunning can have the diploma if she explains to him what she did.

"She doesn't have to apologize to me. It's not about me. I think it's just about a life lesson and developing character," he said.

Dunning told Sanchez that she didn't shake Thompson's hand because she didn't want to. She didn't elaborate.

Whether Dunning receives the document has no bearing on her future. She has graduated --- with or without the diploma -- and she is scheduled to attend college in the fall.

The state Department of Education says law does not entitle a graduate to a diploma.

"The law is silent on this issue. The principal does have diploma-granting authority; the state does not," Education Department spokeswoman Mary Tiede Wilhelmus said.