KU News Release

KU graduates to make traditional walk through campanile, down hill May 20

LAWRENCE — More than 4,000 members of the University of Kansas’ Class of 2007 are expected to make the traditional walk down Mount Oread during KU’s 135th commencement Sunday, May 20, in Lawrence.

Graduates will assemble along Memorial Drive at 2 p.m. They will march into Memorial Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway will offer remarks and confer degrees beginning at about 3:30 p.m. The consumption of alcohol and cereal malt beverages on university property is strictly prohibited.

About 6,400 students are candidates for degrees in the Class of 2007. The class includes about 4,280 candidates for degrees in the spring, more than 1,320 who graduated at the end of the fall 2006 semester and more than 800 who completed coursework over summer 2006.

The tradition of a commencement procession began in 1907 when faculty and graduates walked from old Fraser Hall to the then-new Robinson Gymnasium, where Wescoe Hall is now located. The commencement procession moved in 1924 when Memorial Stadium, built in honor of World War I veterans, was completed.

The commencement ceremony will be shown live in Woodruff Auditorium on the fifth level of the Kansas Union. The broadcast is provided for people for whom the physical conditions in Memorial Stadium would be a barrier to their attendance at commencement. Commencement also will be broadcast on campus television station KUJH TV-14 (Channel 31 on Lawrence’s Sunflower Cable).

Sign language interpreters will be available in the bowl of the stadium. Reserved seating also will be available for people who need special assistance, including people in wheelchairs.

Because of ongoing construction at the football facility, the spectator area for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Graduate School procession will be smaller than in past years.

Commencement information and an up-to-date schedule of events are available online. KU Info is available at (785) 864-3506 or kuinfo@ku.edu. The information center’s walk-up window on the fourth level of the Kansas Union will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 19 and 20. The KU Visitor Center, 1502 Iowa St., will be open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 19 and 20.

If it rains the morning of commencement, an announcement will be made at 1 p.m. about arrangements for a postponed ceremony. Announcements will be made through KU Info and local radio stations, including KANU 91.5-FM, KLZR 105.9-FM, KJHK 90.7-FM, KFKF 94.1-FM, KMBZ 980-AM, WIBW 580-AM and KLWN 1320-AM, as well as Sunflower Cable Channel 6.

If the weather begins to clear in early afternoon, the first attempt to hold a postponed ceremony will be at 4:30 p.m. Graduates will assemble on Memorial Drive at 4 p.m. If the weather does not begin to clear in time for a 4:30 p.m. ceremony, a second attempt will be made at 6:30 p.m. Graduates will assemble on Memorial Drive at 6 p.m.

If it’s still raining, the ceremony will be postponed until Monday, May 21, when graduates will line up at 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. procession.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.