Students graduating in the College of Letters and Science this spring will be split into two commencement ceremonies as the event returns to the newly renovated Pauley Pavilion.
Because there will now be two ceremonies instead of one, on graduation day, June 14, students will be able to order up to four tickets, twice the number from previous years, said Betty Glick, associate vice provost of undergraduate academic support.
Both ceremonies will be held in the new arena and will each seat 2,500 graduating students on the court, Glick said.
The two ceremonies will be identical and will have the same commencement speaker, Glick said. She added that they hope to announce who this year’s speaker is by mid-February or early March. Past keynote speakers have included former President Bill Clinton and actor Sean Astin.
There has been an increasing size in entering freshman classes in past years. Glick said having two commencement ceremonies will help to provide more seating for the graduates’ friends and family.
Students will be able to choose between the 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ceremonies, depending on space availability in their respective departments, Glick said. Between April 30 and May 14, eligible students will be able to order tickets for their preferred ceremony through MyUCLA and pick them up at the Central Ticket Office, she added.
Glick said her office will allot seats to the departments based on the number of students from each department in the College that attended previous commencement ceremonies.
The change garnered varied reactions among students planning to graduate in the spring.
Fourth-year political science student Svetlana Pravina said she thinks having two ceremonies is a good idea and appreciates the opportunity to invite more of her friends to watch her complete her final milestone at UCLA.
“I went to my friend’s graduation at UC Santa Barbara and I wanted to invite her, but I couldn’t because my parents have to come,” she said. “Now I can ask her to come.”
But Stephanie Muir, a fourth-year psychobiology student, said she sees a downside to the separate ceremonies.
“I have been to graduation in the past and we’ve never had problems getting in with will call. I see how it’s a good idea, but it sucks if you can’t graduate with your friends,” she said.
Graduating students will receive messages concerning important dates and datelines dealing with commencement leading up to the June graduation date, Glick said.
Email Cashell at ycashell@media.ucla.edu
Check your facts – Bill Clinton actually didn’t speak at any commencement, and Sean Astin spoke for the English department.
I suddenly don’t want to graduate anymore. This ruins everything.
In all seriousness, however, the convenience of inviting multiple people to graduation is outweighed by the inconvenience of not graduating with your friends and classmates. Though I’m not graduating for a while, this is really lame.
Maybe a better way would be to graduate North/South campus majors separately….