Officials move graduation ceremonies to McAndrew

By Gus Bode

All SIUC graduation ceremonies scheduled for Saturday and Sunday have been rescheduled and moved to McAndrew Stadium, university spokesman Rod Sievers said Friday night.

Administrators decided to have the ceremonies outside because of weather-related power outages. Sievers said Ameren CIPS officials informed university administrators that power would be out through Saturday.

The ceremonies are rescheduled as follows: College of Science and College of Engineering Saturday at 8:30 a.m.; College of Agriculture Saturday at 11 a.m.; College of Mass Communication and Media Arts and College of Arts and Sciences I Saturday at 2 p.m.; College of Arts and Sciences II Saturday at 5:30 p.m.; and College of Liberal Arts Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Advertisement

Sievers said students, faculty and guest speakers should check in at the Student Center an hour before the ceremonies begin.

He said he did not know of a plan for what to do if it rained. At 11:50 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., predicted a 20 percent chance of showers Saturday and a 30 percent chance of showers Sunday.

The decision to have the ceremonies came after nearly four hours of debate among university officials, Sievers said. He said administrators had thought they would cancel the ceremonies this weekend, but then decided to have them because so many families came to Carbondale for the events.

‘We felt we had to do something,’ he said.

Sievers said it would not be possible to reschedule the ceremonies for a different weekend.

He said people involved in the decision included SIU President Glenn Poshard, Chancellor Sam Goldman, representatives from University Housing and legal counsel, and Director of Public Safety Todd Sigler.

At 11:40 p.m. Friday, Ameren’s Web site showed 18,933 Jackson County customers did not have power. This reflects roughly 91 percent of the Ameren customers in the county, the site said.

Advertisement*

Advertisement