Seven of the nine UCSB commencement ceremonies planned for June 14-16 – including the Graduate Division, all of College of Letters & Science, and College of Engineering — have been relocated from the lawn bordering the lagoon to the Recreation Center Fields. Two ceremonies, the College of Creative Studies and the Bren School ceremonies, have not relocated and will remain at the original location. The venue change will not affect the time or date of the ceremonies. However, guest ticketing will be implemented at the RecCen ceremonies and tickets are limited to six per graduate participant and will be subjected to security screening.
The announcement came on Monday, the same day UCSB academic workers went on strike over the University of California’s unfair labor practices regarding its response to pro-Palestinian protests at campus around the state. Already, the announcement has garnered overwhelming criticism from graduating students, UCSB alumni, and many others. Two independent Change.org petitions that began on June 3, entitled “Allow UCSB’s Class of 2024 to Graduate on the Commencement Lawn Without Ticket Limits” and “Restore Commencement Lawn Graduation Ceremony for UCSB Class of 2024,” have amassed more than 7,200 signatures between the two of them.
One petition makes a connection to high school graduation ceremonies that were widely made to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. “I had my graduation for high school over Zoom, as did many of my graduating peers,” wrote the petitioner. “It is unfair to rob us of this experience without explanation.” The petition called UCSB’s decision to move ceremonies to the RecCen turf fields “insulting to the hard work of this class … we deserve to graduate on that lawn that we have dreamt about.” While the petitioners allege little to no explanation has been provided from the administration as to why the relocation occurred, UCSB Media Relations Manager Kiki Reyes told the Independent, “The change in location and the addition of ticketing for seven ceremonies this year was undertaken in order to help ensure the continuity of the ceremonies and to provide enhanced safety for our students and their guests.”
