The occasion is not a football or lacrosse game, but commencement for the class of 2005.
Rather than hosting two outdoor ceremonies, TU has decided to produce one event for every spring graduate, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Close to 11,000 people are expected to attend, flirting with the stadium's capacity of 11,198.
"This will be the largest crowd we've ever had in the stadium," Commencement Planning Committee co-chair Bill Reuling, assistant to the provost, said.
Joining the hundreds of graduates will be commencement speaker Norman Mineta, the Secretary of Transportation. The high-profile guest was invited by President Robert Caret, who met Mineta while serving as president of San Jose State University. At the time, Mineta was a congressman in California.
Along with Mineta, Comcast president Stephen Burch will receive an honorary doctorate. Reuling's advice for soon-to-be graduates is straightforward: "Check the envelope and make sure you've got your tickets. Read the announcement about the rain plan. Go to the Web site and look it over, make sure you know what's happening. Don't forget the parking stickers."
Reuling dispelled rumors of a six-hour ceremony. He anticipates the event will last about three hours.
Religious concerns about Sunday graduation
It's not the length of the commencement, but the time of the ceremony, that has distressed the Interfaith Campus Ministers Association.
Baptist campus minister Robert Waddail helped write a letter to the President's Council in November recommending graduation guidelines. The letter proposed graduation be scheduled on a day not conflicting with traditional worship schedules or religious holidays.
In March, the ICMA received a response from Reuling, on behalf of Caret. "To date, we have not received a significant number of complaints from graduates or their parents about commencement interfering with their religious observance," Reuling wrote. However, this week, Reuling said he has received four complaints relating to the timing of graduation and religious observances this year.
Waddail said he understood the rationale behind a weekend ceremony, but believes it doesn't address his group's concerns.
"They're trying to be sensitive to families, and I give them credit for that, but we felt that they were not being sensitive to the issue of people having to choose between going to commencement or observing their normal worship patterns," he said.
Organizers consider changes to ceremony
The format, location and size of commencement may change by this time next year. "We're looking at every possible permutation," Caret said. "Frankly, I don't like any of them. I like having one big ceremony, but we're already outgrowing the stadium." If current enrollment and graduation trends continue, the University won't be able to provide an adequate number of tickets per graduate.
Reuling said several scenarios would be discussed with Caret after May 22.
"They deal with both indoor and outdoor ceremonies and weekend and mid-week ceremonies," he said.
Organizers have suggested holding six ceremonies (one for each college) or moving downtown to the First Mariner Arena, but ideas are only in a theoretical stage. "We're looking at how we can [host commencement] in a way that meets most of our needs, if not all of our needs," Caret said.
|
|
|
| Home | Copyright Brian Stelter |