There is an area of the MyUCLA forums that has recently started
to fill with posts of desperate students frantically attempting to
acquire and dispose of graduation tickets as commencement soon
approaches.
One student says she needs to trade her English department
graduation tickets for some tickets to the sociology ceremony.
Another student has posted that he needs extra tickets for the
College of Letters & Science commencement ceremony. He adds
that he “will pay good money.” A third post states that
a student has economics and psychology graduation tickets available
“at cost,” for $6.
The posts reflect a widespread campus practice that often occurs
during the last few weeks of the school year, when students realize
their liberal estimate of the amount of people in their extended
family was a little too liberal, or that the ticket request
deadline passed while they were writing their last paper.
While these last-minute ticket quests are not uncommon, they are
also a violation of the student conduct code. The unauthorized sale
or transfer of commencement tickets may be subject to sanctions by
the dean of students, ranging from a written warning to a degree
revocation, said Assistant Dean of Students Brian Carlisle. He
emphasized that the only authorized use of commencement tickets is
limited to guests of the students who ordered the tickets.
But Ross Halper, a fourth-year business economics student, said
he is not really concerned that his act of soliciting tickets on
the forums may violate university policy.
“I didn’t know that … and I absolutely don’t
care at all,” Halper said, when informed about the code.
“I don’t see anything unethical about it.”
Halper, who has four tickets and five guests attending,
explained that to him, it made sense that someone who had extra
tickets should give them to someone else who needed the
tickets.
But Carlisle said it becomes a problem when those who need
tickets do not have any available to them due to the transfer of
tickets.
“It is unfair for people who want to watch their children
graduate,” Carlisle said, but added, “Fortunately,
students are abiding by policy, and we are appreciative of
that.”
Carlisle added that he would not be surprised if the university
police became involved in the event that scalping occurred during
the ceremonies later this month.
UCPD representatives say such a report has not been made for
several years, but would be made if illegal ticket transfer or
sales were noted during commencement. All the ceremonies will have
an officer presence, said Nancy Greenstein, director of police
community services for UCPD.
Though enforcement and reports of violations are few, Carlisle
says it is the role of the entire community, including students,
faculty and police, to ensure that tickets are fairly
distributed.
The main reason tickets get transferred is often the fault of
individual students and not a result of ticket unavailability.
Varying numbers of tickets are available to graduating students
depending on which ceremony they choose to walk in. The English
department allows four free tickets to each student, with each
subsequent ticket up to a maximum of 20 tickets costing $6.
Department counselors say with the size of their venue in Pauley
Pavilion, all ticket orders can be filled.
Other ceremonies, like the Henry Samueli School of Engineering
and Applied Science commencement, do not have a maximum number of
tickets that students are allowed to order, as the demand often
does not exceed the seats available.
Students who transfer tickets often do so as a result of
personal need ““ an occurrence many students expect to
increase as graduation nears.
Soon, someone will realize they are in trouble, and the search
for tickets will increase, said Sharon Jotblad, a fourth-year
psychobiology student, who said she may have one ticket available
to transfer and would not hesitate to do so if a friend needed
it.
Halper said he would wait until the last possible day ““
the day of his graduation ““ until he became desperate.
“On graduation day, I figure people sell (tickets) for any
price you give them,” he said.