Site chosen for University of Michigan graduation ceremony

Football stadium renovation forced school to move event to outdoor plaza on Ann Arbor campus

April 3, 2008

2 min read

The grass on the University of Michigan's Diag will go under cover, and two dozen bleachers and 25,000 chairs will fill the outdoor plaza for the school's April 26 commencement. Since 1950, spring graduation is held at Michigan Stadium, but a $226 million renovation project at the site has forced the school to find an alternative site. Protests erupted earlier this year when officials said Rynearson Stadium at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti would host the graduation. The university polled students about other options, and Diag was the clear favorite.
Click here to read The Detroit News article.

University of Michigan seniors have won the first round of their fight with administration: Spring commencement will no longer be held at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. The ceremony will take place on University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus, but it's not clear where. The change of plans is in response to an avalanche of criticism from seniors after the university announced earlier this month the commencement would be moved from Michigan's football stadium to EMU's Rynearson Stadium, the next largest facility in the area.
Click here to read The Detroit News article.

EARLIER: The University of Michigan class of 2008 learned this week that their April 26 commencement will be at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti because of construction at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Many seniors, feeling cheated out of a spring tradition that began at the stadium in 1950, are uniting to fight for change.
Click here to read The Detroit News article.