The price of prestige

Why has an AI-generated photograph of a man pretending to graduate from The University of the West Indies (The UWI) provoked such strong reactions?

The image, posted by content creator Karlando “Bad Sekki” Bailey in the days after The UWI Mona’s November 2026 graduation ceremonies, showed him in academic dress with the university’s coat of arms and a caption along the lines of “Hard work finally paid off.”

Some treated it as light comedy. Others, including at least one recent graduate, saw it as making light of the years of study, financial strain, and personal cost that real graduation requires.