Reser Stadium construction will not be impacting graduation ceremonies

By GABRIEL BRAUKMAN News Contributor

While the Reser Stadium construction at Oregon State University won’t be complete until after commencement, this year’s graduates should expect no impact.

The commencement ceremony for this year’s graduating students will be taking place on Saturday, June 17 within Reser Stadium, according to OSU. This year marks the 154th commencement for OSU.

This year, Reser Stadium is entering the final months of its largest renovation yet. The Completing Reser Stadium project, which began in 2021 by Hoffman Construction, is slated to finish its construction by the start of this year’s football season, according to the OSU Athletics website. The renovation will be adding a student welcome center, as well as a wellness clinic.

Libby Ramirez, a university architect and director of Capital Resources, said that, “Hoffman Construction has known about commencement dates (both last year and this year) since they were selected for the project and have built these dates into the project schedule.”

Additionally, as Hoffman Construction did during the 2022 football schedule, they will pull back their operations the day before to allow for all access needed for commencement preparation. The construction company also plans to tidy up the site.

According to Ramirez, the project team met with commencement planners to ensure construction operations do not conflict with commencement plans.

For those wanting to plan ahead, some details about the event for guests are shared on the commencement website. This includes facts such as how the gates will open at 9 a.m., there is no reserved seating, and that the ceremony is expected to last around 3 hours. One new rule being established this year is a clear bag policy.

James Yon, an administrative lieutenant with OSU’s Department of Public Safety said, “(The clear bag policy) is the same as all sporting events at the university. Only clear bags will be allowed into the ceremony.”

The addition of the clear bag policy falls in line with an overarching security change at Reser Stadium. According to the official OSU website on the policy, the program has been set in place for all ticketed athletic events since the 2018 baseball season.

The commencement website has guidelines to follow for this policy. The only types of bags that are allowed into the ceremony are clear plastic bags no larger than 12” X 6” X 12”, clear one gallon plastic storage bags, and small clutch bags no larger than the approximate size of a hand. Bags such as backpacks, camera bags, purses, and fanny packs are not allowed under any circumstances.

Specifically prohibited items for commencement include any outside food and drink, any kind of tobacco product including e cigarettes and vaping products, and umbrellas.

The construction sites and equipment themselves will not be impacting the ceremony. Guests are seated on the east side of Reser Stadium, while students are seated on the field itself, with neither area being a part of the construction.

According to Ramirez, the construction of Reser will be resuming the Monday morning after commencement, on June 19.

This year’s commencement ceremony will be happening without any major changes due to construction. This year’s commencement is likely the last major event to occur in Reser before the planned end of its construction this July.

Steve Clark, the vice president of University Relations and Marketing, said, “We believe that guests and graduates will be excited to see the progress that is occurring on the stadium project.”