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President Obama is supposed to be in town, tomorrow, to speak at the Arizona State graduation. He won't be speaking till after dark at about 8:00 pm, but graduation is being held outdoors in the stadium. The graduates I understand will start entering the stadium at about 3:00 which means they and their loved ones will be out in near 100 degree weather for about 5 hours before the main speaker begins to talk. Usually graduation at ASU is held not far away at the basketball arena, but they figured everyone would want to see the President this time.
When I was in grad school President Ford came to speak at Ohio State's graduation just a few weeks after Nixon left office. It wasn't my graduation, but a friend invited me and another of her friends to come on her tickets. It was an interesting experience. The graduation was in the basketball arena, and the President spoke fairly early in the proceedings. So that we waited afterward for the PhDs and MDs to be awarded and the M As to be handed out during which time our friend went across the stage. People were already leaving so we did not feel compelled to watch all the Bachelor degree candidates walk across the stage as well. I was just as glad I'd already skipped my own master's ceremony, because there were a heck of a lot of candidates.
Things were a lot simpler at Missouri although it's probably changed there as well. It wasn't raining, but it was too wet from a recent rain to have the ceremony outside. So the graduates were in the crummy old Field house (Two basketball arenas have been built there since I left) while the parents were scattered across campus watching on TV, which did not sit very well with my father I'm afraid. We had the speeches (Walter Cronkite was our main speaker). The honorary degrees were passed out (By the way, Arizona State isn't going to give one to Obama tomorrow!). The new Doctors of all flavors did cross the stage. But then the rest of us including the master's candidates stood up as a group in place in turn by specific degrees. There were a lot of different kinds of degrees, but it still saved a heck of a lot of time.
ASU now is a little bigger than OSU was when I was there and it was the largest single campus in the country. Inside or out, five hours is just too long. They ought to try to find a better way to get through it all.
When I was in grad school President Ford came to speak at Ohio State's graduation just a few weeks after Nixon left office. It wasn't my graduation, but a friend invited me and another of her friends to come on her tickets. It was an interesting experience. The graduation was in the basketball arena, and the President spoke fairly early in the proceedings. So that we waited afterward for the PhDs and MDs to be awarded and the M As to be handed out during which time our friend went across the stage. People were already leaving so we did not feel compelled to watch all the Bachelor degree candidates walk across the stage as well. I was just as glad I'd already skipped my own master's ceremony, because there were a heck of a lot of candidates.
Things were a lot simpler at Missouri although it's probably changed there as well. It wasn't raining, but it was too wet from a recent rain to have the ceremony outside. So the graduates were in the crummy old Field house (Two basketball arenas have been built there since I left) while the parents were scattered across campus watching on TV, which did not sit very well with my father I'm afraid. We had the speeches (Walter Cronkite was our main speaker). The honorary degrees were passed out (By the way, Arizona State isn't going to give one to Obama tomorrow!). The new Doctors of all flavors did cross the stage. But then the rest of us including the master's candidates stood up as a group in place in turn by specific degrees. There were a lot of different kinds of degrees, but it still saved a heck of a lot of time.
ASU now is a little bigger than OSU was when I was there and it was the largest single campus in the country. Inside or out, five hours is just too long. They ought to try to find a better way to get through it all.