GC&SU moves graduation to front campus, limits tickets

Beginning in December 2004, Georgia College & State University will hold commencement exercises on Front Campus for both graduate and undergraduate students.

Dr. Paul Jones, vice president for Institutional Research and Enrollment Management, said this change was made because of the potential of large audiences breaking fire codes, the limited capacity of the Centennial Center – which can hold around 5,000 people – and the sound system in Centennial Center.

“We had a number of complaints from graduates, parents and faculty [about the sound system]. If sound was much better I think many may have been okay with the [Centennial Center],” said Jones, who said he and several deans discussed the idea of changing the venue of graduation and then received approval from GC&SU President Dorothy Leland.

A sound system with the needed output will be rented for the outdoor ceremony.

Students will give tickets to their guests to help control the crowd. Jones said each graduate will receive eight free tickets for the December ceremony. For those graduates wanting to invite more than eight people, overflow options will be available.

“The plan is that we will be able to not only have a ceremony but also have the live ceremony broadcast in Russell in December and Arts & Sciences in May,” said Jones at a graduation task force meeting Monday. The task force is made up of faculty, staff and several undergraduate and graduate students.

Discussion about extra tickets is also happening. A suggestion was made that students should contact each other to find out who has extra tickets.

Student Government Association president Loman Martin criticized the plan.

“I think the situation is outrageous. There are going to be people who are scalping tickets like crazy,” said Martin. “In order to acquire extra tickets to your own graduation, you are going to have to take out yet another loan for college.”

Currently, Student Activities is working on a system that will allow students who don’t need all of their tickets to give their extra tickets to a pool so other students who need more than can get them.

Jones said plans are being made in case of inclement weather, but finding an alternate location that could hold so many guests might be difficult.

“Some commencements you bring umbrellas and endure – we’re not sure if there will be a viable alternative,” Jones said.

Jones said he isn’t sure what the final outcome will be, but a logistics committee is working hard on the issue.

“We talk about acting more like a private school – this is the kind of thing you would commonly see.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 15 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry