Procedures change for Graduation

Overcrowding during spring commencements prompted University officials to implement three new procedures this semester to ensure all guests will be able to view the event. So many guests appeared during at least one spring ceremony that police had to escort the overflow outside Vaughn Auditorium in the R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center, which seats 2,000.

In the future, officials plan to limit the number of guests a graduate may invite, post more live feeds at other campus venues and prohibit students with less than the required 120 hours from participating as graduates.

Under previous rules, students who planned to finish their coursework in the summer could participate in the spring commencement. Four commencement ceremonies are conducted each fall and spring to accommodate graduates from all five colleges.

The deadline to file for graduation is June 15 for the fall graduation and Oct. 15 for the Spring graduation. Students who wish to file for graduation in the summer have a March 15 deadline, but are not allowed to walk until the fall graduation.

Dr. Peter Fos, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said the overflowing crowds forced officials to find additional ways to accommodate the guests. “In every one of our four commencement ceremonies we had an issue,” he said. “Some of them were worse than others and nursing was a big issue.”

Fos said the Council of Academic Deans developed recommendations from handing out tickets to setting up video cameras for live feeds — procedures approved by President Rod Mabry. Tickets will be made available in each college’s dean’s office for students to pick up prior to the commencement ceremony.

Fos said school officials are scheduled to determine the number of tickets based on the number of available seats and the number of candidates graduating within one week of commencement. Also, graduation ceremonies are scheduled to be seen on the University website for those unable to attend the ceremony.

Fos said additional seats are scheduled to be available in the Braithwaite Recital Hall and Room 1003 of the Fine and Performing Arts Center. These venues are scheduled to broadcast graduation over live video.

“These two areas will allow family members to still have the family members speak with the graduates after the ceremony and that is about the best we can do,” Fos said. Fos said school officials plan to use the new 350-seat auditorium of the University Center in May for additional seating during the commencement.

Fos said officials discussed changing venues to a location like the Oil Palace but ultimately decided to keep the event at the Cowan Center. “I have never been inside the Oil Palace and I have heard it is not a pretty place. I think the president likes the idea that we are a relatively small campus and we have a special sort of attitude here at UT-Tyler,” he said.