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Students celebrate their graduation on the quad in a previous year.
Ticket issues causes uproar among UNCA graduating class
SAMANTHA SAVERY
Opinion Editor
ssavery@unca.edu
The UNC Asheville Class
of 2018 Facebook page was in up
roar this week as seniors received
an email stating they would each
get four tickets for graduation.
To many, only four tickets
seemed like the rotten cherry atop
the melting sundae that would be
graduation in Kimmel Arena. Since
the first graduation email was sent
out, a number of students petitioned
and protested to have the ceremony
moved back onto UNCA’s quad.
Ryan McGreal, a senior health
and wellness student, was the first
to post the petition to move grad
uation back to the quad earlier this
week. CJ Roberts, a senior chem
istry and Spanish student, emailed
the administration about his — and
many others’ — frustrations along
with his plan of what could change.
“As a senior, I received the
email sent by the Associate Reg
istrar Alicia Shope this afternoon
concerning the number to tickets
that each graduate will be afforded,
four. My fellow graduating students
and I would like to formally express
our concerns about this,” Roberts
wrote in his email.
Roberts wrote that he and other
seniors found out previous Kimmel
Arena graduations had between five
and seven tickets per graduate. But
the Class of 2018 is the largest grad
uating class in UNCA history, with
more than 500 students receiving
their degrees this May. This could
possibly limit the space available to
guests, especially to handicapped
individuals. Kimmel has a capacity
of 3,400, which may give students
the chance to obtain six tickets per
graduate.
While many had a problem with
only receiving four tickets, myself
and a quiet minority of seniors felt
it was better than none. Some col
leges bigger than UNCA only allot
students four tickets and small
er colleges often give fewer. Live
streaming of the event is promised
for those who cannot fit into the
arena, my brother and grandparents
already deciding to do this to avoid
the larger crowd. This practice may
have to be used on the quad with its
unticketed status possibly equalling
thousands on the grassy spot and
many who will be in the back with
no view of the stage on which we
walk.
“The live stream option sounds
fantastic to me. I have some small
children in my family and I know
their parents would be much hap
pier seeing the ceremony from
somewhere else where their babies
would not be able to disrupt the cer
emony,” said Liz Torres, a senior
history student.
Torres herself has seven family
members planning to attend the cer
emony, some traveling from Puerto
Rico. She said she found some of
the outcry immature.
“I feel like the reaction is blown
out of proportion. To me, the back
lash is incredibly childish and I ha
ven't really heard a reason to peti
tion or complain that isn't selfish or
stubborn,” Torres said. “It also up
sets me that our entire class is being
tied to the backlash because the ma
jority of people who I interact with
could not care less about where the
ceremony is.”
Similarly to Torres, I found some
of the demands made were selfish,
a few students alluding to the pos
sibility of having entourages that
reached double digits. There is no
need for every single aunt and uncle
to attend the ceremony, but grand
parents are understandable guests
many students include on their spe
cial days who will make the four
ticket limit a tight squeeze. I have a
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