Correction Appended: An earlier version of this story reported that students should contact their respective departments and schools for information about whether their other graduation activities would be affected by the commencement time change. They should not. Departments and schools will contact students if their other graduation activities are affected.
In an e-mail to be sent to graduating seniors this morning, University officials are expected to announce the time for this Spring’s commencement ceremony will be delayed by one hour from it’s original start time.
The decision to delay commencement — originally scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. — until 11 a.m. was the result of discussions about the additional security that will be required when President Barack Obama is on site to deliver the commencement address.
The decision was made to ensure that all in attendance will have enough time to clear security and make it to their seats, according to a statement from University President Mary Sue Coleman in a press release that is expected to be distributed later this morning.
“We want students and their guests to have plenty of time to comfortably make it to campus and through security at the stadium, so that they can enjoy this historic event honoring the achievements of our 2010 graduates,” Coleman is quoted as saying.
White House officials and event planners on campus coordinated the announcement, according to University officials.
Obama, who will be the third sitting president to deliver the University’s commencement address, is the first president to visit the University since heightened security measures were implemented at public venues like Michigan Stadium after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The additional security measures have included banning guests from bringing bags into the stadium and requiring students to show their MCard.
According to the release, University officials are still coordinating with White House staff on other details for the event including what guests will be able to bring with them to the stadium, as well as where they will be able to park and where they will be able to enter the stadium.
More information about those topics is forthcoming and will be posted on the University’s commencement website in early April.
What is known is that guests will be allowed to arrive to the gates of Michigan Stadium as early as 6 a.m. to begin clearing security.
Event planners are encouraging family and friends of graduates to arrive early to make sure they have time to find a parking spot, walk to the stadium and clear security before the ceremony starts.
When Obama delivered the commencement addresses at Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame last year, guests were given less time to clear security than the five-hour window University officials are allotting.
Notre Dame opened its gates at 7:30 a.m. and began its ceremony at 9:30, giving its approximately 2,900 graduates and their guests two hours to clear security and be seated.
ASU — where as many as 60,000 guests and 9,000 graduates were in attendance — allowed slightly more time last year when Obama spoke at its commencement, opening the gates at 2:30 p.m. for a 5 p.m. ceremony.
University officials are expecting about 3,500 undergraduate students to receive degrees at this spring’s commencement and approximately 40,000 friends and family members to be present for the ceremony.
University officials said students will be notified by their respective schools and departments if their department and college graduation activities will be affected by the change in the commencement ceremony’s start time.