Watch This University of Buffalo Graduate Get Chased Across The Stage Like a Cartoon Character For Carrying a Prohibited Baby
NBC News – A University of Buffalo graduate was chased across the stage by police at Sunday's commencement ceremony for carrying a prohibited item while he tried to collect his diploma: a baby.
Video of the commencement for the College of Arts and Sciences shows the student, Jean-Paul Al-Arab, running quickly from backstage to cut the line of graduates and insert himself in the proceedings, all while holding a baby dressed in a matching royal blue cap and gown.
Al-Arab was trailed by at least two police officers and at least two people who appeared to be faculty members at the university. Unable to stop his sprint, Al-Arab shook hands with delighted graduation officials and stopped mid-stage — baby in his arms — as the crowd roared.
The University of Buffalo graduate carrying the baby in that video is Jean-Paul Al-Arab. His name directly translates Jean-Paul The Arab. He's a recent graduate of Buffalo's College of Arts and Sciences. On top of being a new father, and a full-time student pursuing his undergrad, Jean-Paul has been working two jobs to support his family. Walking across the stage at graduation meant a lot to Jean-Paul, and he wanted to share the moment with his son.
The University of Buffalo had other ideas. I understand why they would have rules in place that prohibit students from bringing additional people on stage with them at graduation. It's a classic, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" situation. If you let one man graduate with his newborn son, then you have to let the next guy walk with his two-year old daughter. One things leads to another, and next thing you know a student walks across the stage with his radical girlfriend who throws fake blood on the Dean of Students and does five minutes on Isreal-Palestine.
But every good bouncer knows you have to take every situation at face value. Sometimes you gotta bend the rules on the fly in order to keep the peace. It's standard practice to not allow a person into the club without photo I.D. But what if that person is a girl who's hot? Is the minuscule chance of having your bar shut down, or putting your school's star running back in a Josh Giddy situation really worse than having a bad ratio? It's a case-by-case basis. In this case, Jean-Paul was clearly given bad information. Someone told him it was ok to carry his baby across the stage. He'd obviously put time and effort into planning this moment. The baby was following dress code. At that point, just cut your losses and let the man walk.
I'd love to know what any of the people chasing Jean-Paul were planning to do if they caught up to him. Were they going to use physical force to stop a man carrying an infant? Imagine if this guy...
…does something that causes Jean-Paul to drop his baby in front of an arena packed full of people actively cheering for Jean-Paul to be allowed to walk. Then you have a way bigger problem on your hands than having to explain to a couple future graduates why they aren't allowed to bring their kid on stage, but Jean-Paul The Arab was.
I like to think that guy was operating under the impression that if they allowed that baby across the stage, it automatically makes him a University of Buffalo graduate.
"STOP THAT BABY!!! FUCK!!! Ok guys.. get the diploma ready. Yes we have to, he's wearing the hat. The tassel moved from one side to the other, I saw it. Those are the rules, our hands are tied."
Congratulations to Jean-Paul and his college graduate baby. I'm glad he got to have your moment. And it was nice of his school to be such dicks about it that the whole thing blew up into something bigger, and him and his son got even more recognition.
P.S. When I searched "baby buffalo" to find a tweet with the graduation video, I also came across a video of a baby buffalo. Look at this guy. I had no idea that baby buffaloes were some of the best baby animals in the game.
