Although commencement will continue to be held in Kuhl Gymnasium after speculation that it could be moved to the new athletic stadium, distribution of commencement tickets will change this year with the introduction of University Tickets. This follows the illegal sale of tickets by students that the college addressed with a cautionary email in April 2014.
University Tickets is a website which distributes tickets electronically to students. According to Director of Campus Scheduling and Special Events Andrea Klein, eligible students can log on and claim their four tickets.
“What will happen is beginning April 13–17, any eligible student who has filed to graduate and indicated that they’re participating––those are two distinctly different things––will be able to log in using their Geneseo network username and password and go through the process claiming their four e-tickets,” Klein explained.
Once students have claimed their tickets, which have the student’s name and a unique barcode on them, students have the option of printing, saving as a PDF or emailing their tickets to their guests.
Klein explained that in the past, students have had difficulty getting more than four tickets, but Klein expressed hopes that this switch to University Tickets will make obtaining extra tickets easier.
“We’ve never had a mechanism to manage that there are some students that that don’t need four and some students who need five, or whatever variation you want to put to that,” she said. “Committing to the e-ticketing system allows them to donate the tickets back into a pool.”
Klein explained that shortly after the main distribution week, seniors can log on and get an extra ticket on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“We’re hoping to ask students to just be good citizens standing for good values and donate their tickets back,” she said. “Tickets are unique by a barcode and have the student’s name on them, so if you print a ticket out with your name and the unique barcode on it and sell it to another student, now there’s a way for us to identify where the ticket came from.”
This introduction of an electronic ticketing system is vastly different from the way tickets were distributed in previous years.
“In the past, what we did was we had a printed ticket system where students would go to the registrar’s office the 3 days prior to commencement––Wednesday, Thursday and Friday––and pick up their paper tickets and sign for them,” Klein said. “Anyone who couldn’t make it during those three days could pick up their tickets in the gym with their ID an hour before the ceremony.”
While tickets have not been distributed yet, Klein noted that she has seen a different “tone” surrounding graduation tickets.
“Now that there’s a mechanism for there to potentially be extra tickets, people seem to be a little calmer about the situation, which is good,” she said.
Commencement Intern senior Cassidy Lester said she feels positively about the change.
“I’m excited about the new ticketing system because I think it will expedite the process and provide the opportunity to get more than the previous four allotted tickets,” she said.