Editor-in-Chief

After much discontent from the student body on the sudden requirement for tickets to attend graduation, CSUB President Horace Mitchell has sent out a memo with details on the new plan.

According to the memo, there will be two different commencements at two different times. There will be no tickets required.

The first ceremony will include the Schools of Arts and Humanities, Business and Public Administration and Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering. This ceremony will be held at 7 a.m. on May 19.

The second ceremony will be for the School of Social Sciences and Education, which will be held at noon on May 19.

According to the memorandum, there will be 913 students participating in the first ceremony and 619 students in the second ceremony.

The graduation ceremonies were split by the amount of guests attending.

“The ceremonies were divided by attendance the SSE would have 9,000 guests and the first ceremony would have about 12,000 guests,” said Associated Students Inc. President Alex Dominguez Dominguez.

Dominguez said he thanked the Academic Senate, the Office of the President and the faculty and staff for supporting the student body.

Faculty did show their support for the student body asking the administration to reconsider their decision.

Sociology Professor Gonzalo Santos was one faculty member who showed his support by writing an email to all of the faculty expressing his thoughts on ticket requirements. Santos sent the email through the California Faculty Association’s email because at this time there is no centralized system for faculty to communicate with each other.

“I call on the administration to think of a creative solution, including expanding the venue or dividing the ceremony into two or three the same day. There is still time. But as it stands, the students are close to the point of revolting, and I do not blame them,” stated Santos in an email. “I believe it was an egregious error to have surprised the students in this fashion, disrupting their carefully-made plans to celebrate their graduation with their extended families. And I do not have to remind you this has been a sore point among Latino students for many years. They were so happy things had changed… and now they are so upset.”

There will be a one hour-long reception after the ceremony that will be held at the Student Recreation Center.

 According Dominguez, the Office of the President held an emergency meeting with the Academic Senate and ASI.

Dominguez said the meeting was supposed to be an hour, however ended up being approximately an hour and 45 minutes.

There will still be indoor options for family members who will like to be indoors. One venue will be the Icardo Center and the second will be the women’s practice softball field. Both will have a screen where guest can watch graduates as they cross the stage.

According to the memorandum, there will be further information that will be released early next week regarding parking and transportation for the undergraduate ceremonies.

The graduate ceremonies will be held on Thursday May 18 at 6 p.m. in the Icardo center.