Graduation guests won't need tickets
The Daily Barometer
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: News
After a decision by the Commencement Committee on Wednesday, graduating students will no longer need tickets for their family and friends to attend OSU commencement ceremonies.
Previously, graduating students were allocated eight tickets for family and friends to attend the event. The rule change was allowed by the fact that the commencement ceremony was moved from Gill Coliseum to Reser Stadium in 2001.
Reser Stadium has a capacity of 18,000 people for the ceremony, and there were 14,000 in attendance last year.
"[We did it] to make it easier for students so they don't have to stress on one more little thing," said Kavinda Arthenayake, director of university events and university conference services, who is also the chair of the Commencement Committee. "There's always been students who wanted to get more [tickets], and we never sent anyone away. So why create stress if we don't have to in the first place?"
ASOSU President Mike Olson and MU President Jaimee Colbert, who were present at the committee meeting, were also in favor of the change.
"It will help students, it will be cheaper because we won't have to print tickets, and it speeds the process," Olson said.
This year's ceremony will take place on Sunday, June 17 at 2 p.m. The commencement address will be given by Mary Carlin Yates, the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana.
Yates, a Portland native, graduated 1968 from OSU with a bachelor of arts in English, then went to New York University where she received her master's in comparative east west humanities, according to her biography on the U.S. State Department's Web site.
Yates was confirmed as the ambassador to the Republic of Ghana on Nov. 15, 2002. Prior to this appointment she served as the ambassador to the Republic of Burundi from 1999 until June 2002.
Since beginning her diplomatic career in 1980, Yates has served a number of different positions including Senior Cultural Attache for the U.S. Embassy in France, Assistant Information and Spokesman for U.S./Phillippine military base talks and worked in public affairs in Korea.
Previously, graduating students were allocated eight tickets for family and friends to attend the event. The rule change was allowed by the fact that the commencement ceremony was moved from Gill Coliseum to Reser Stadium in 2001.
Reser Stadium has a capacity of 18,000 people for the ceremony, and there were 14,000 in attendance last year.
"[We did it] to make it easier for students so they don't have to stress on one more little thing," said Kavinda Arthenayake, director of university events and university conference services, who is also the chair of the Commencement Committee. "There's always been students who wanted to get more [tickets], and we never sent anyone away. So why create stress if we don't have to in the first place?"
ASOSU President Mike Olson and MU President Jaimee Colbert, who were present at the committee meeting, were also in favor of the change.
"It will help students, it will be cheaper because we won't have to print tickets, and it speeds the process," Olson said.
This year's ceremony will take place on Sunday, June 17 at 2 p.m. The commencement address will be given by Mary Carlin Yates, the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana.
Yates, a Portland native, graduated 1968 from OSU with a bachelor of arts in English, then went to New York University where she received her master's in comparative east west humanities, according to her biography on the U.S. State Department's Web site.
Yates was confirmed as the ambassador to the Republic of Ghana on Nov. 15, 2002. Prior to this appointment she served as the ambassador to the Republic of Burundi from 1999 until June 2002.
Since beginning her diplomatic career in 1980, Yates has served a number of different positions including Senior Cultural Attache for the U.S. Embassy in France, Assistant Information and Spokesman for U.S./Phillippine military base talks and worked in public affairs in Korea.
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