The university is still considering possible ways to solve the overcrowding issue at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum during commencement ceremonies.
Last semester, one proposal suggested by SHSU to deal with overcrowding would have issued a limited number of tickets to each graduating senior.
David Payne, vice president of Academic Affairs, said the ticket proposal has since been abandoned, but the university is still considering alternate ways of solving the problem.
“The university is selecting additional sites where the overflow crowd can view the ceremony,” Payne said. “That plan is in the process of development.”
Payne said the proposal to give seniors a limited number of tickets was always just one suggestion the school was entertaining, and that SHSU never declared that the ticket proposal was the final solution to the issue.
The university is considering using different auditoriums around campus to broadcast the ceremony on a closed circuit to audiences who won’t fit in the Coliseum.
Payne said other options are also being considered, but that the decision of how to solve the issue will not be made final until SHSU’s Convocation Committee meets to deal with the problem.
There is no date yet on when the decision will be made, but Payne said it would be “quite soon.”
When asked about the possibility of having guests view the ceremony from a different location, some SHSU students didn’t respond favorably.
Graduating senior Rebecca Elliott said the proposal wasn’t a good one.
“I don’t think that’s a real good solution, because the whole point is for your family to be there cheering for you,” Elliott said.
Senior Shantle Foster also didn’t agree with the televised graduation idea.
“I think the TV thing is a waste of time, because no one’s going to sit down and watch graduation on television, because graduation is supposed to a family thing,” Foster said.
Senior Jeff Gaspard also disagreed with the alternate site suggestion.
“I think the auditorium thing won’t work, because people want to see the graduation in person,” Gaspard said. “If a person spends four or five years to graduate from college, I feel that regardless of overcrowding, they should have people there to support them.”
Gaspard added that whatever choice the school makes to deal with the problem, limiting the amount of people that get to watch the ceremony should not be an option.
“The only solution possible is one that allows for people to see their family graduate in person,” Gaspard said.
All three students said the university should offer an extra ceremony to divide up the number of attendees.