Quinnipiac University announced Wednesday it will be moving all undergraduate commencement ceremonies to the TD Bank Sports Center starting in the 2015-2016 school year.
“Each school will have its own individual ceremony, and all of them will take place at the TD Bank Sports Center on the York Hill Campus,” Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell told juniors in an email. “We made these changes so that each school could have a much more personalized, student-centered ceremony. This also enables graduates and their families to enjoy this special day in a dry and secure location where optimal viewing is ensured.”
The new format is different from current undergraduate commencement procedures in that three ceremonies are held throughout one day outside in front of the Arnold Bernhard Library on main campus. Several schools are grouped together in each session, but under the new format, each school will have its own individual event. Next year’s ceremonies will be held Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22.
Graduating students are currently issued four tickets for a potential ceremony at the arena on the basketball side in case of inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances. An additional four tickets are granted for attendees to view the ceremony on the video boards on hockey side of the facility. It is unknown at this time what ticket procedures would be for the reformatted event.
Presently, Quinnipiac’s undergraduate ceremonies do not require tickets for admission and are open to the public.
Last year, the university was forced to move its final undergraduate ceremony of the day to the arena after a bomb threat was called in on main campus. The threat turned out to be a hoax from a student who had previously been enrolled at the school.
Quinnipiac also uses the arena for graduate commencement, and will do so again in 2015.
