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Oread

About 4,000 grads to make walk down the hill

More than 4,000 members of the University of Kansas' Class of 2008 are expected to make the traditional walk down Mount Oread during KU's 136th commencement May 18.

Photo

Doug Koch/University Relations

Graduates were literally jumping for joy last year. Dustin Smith, graduate in physical therapy from Austin, Texas, left, and Blake Henshaw, graduate in economics from West Point, N.Y., high-fived each other in front of the Memorial Campanile before making the walk down the hill.

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 7,000 students are members of the Class of 2008. The class includes 2,555 graduates from the summer and fall of 2007.

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 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. Commencement also will be broadcast on campus television station KUJH TV-14 (Channel 31 on Lawrence's Sunflower Cable).

Reserved seating also will be available for people who need special assistance. Enter the stadium through Gate D to reach this seating. Commencement information is available www.commencement.ku.edu. KU Info is available by calling 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 17 and 18. The KU Visitor Center, 1502 Iowa St., will be open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 and 18.

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 May 19, when graduates will make a 9 a.m. procession.

RESEARCH MATTERS:

Deforestation in Mexico could bring about the end of the 3,000-mile migration of the monarch butterfly, according to a KU researcher. "To lose something like this migration is to diminish all of us - to diminish the biodiversity on the planet. And it would be a shame to lose this particular phenomenon because it's so truly spectacular, one of the awe-inspiring phenomena that nature presents to us," said Chip Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "We need to understand it; we need to protect it." For more, or to listen to the original broadcast, visit www.researchmatters.ku.edu.