Rutgers New-Brunswick students are fuming over a limit on tickets to graduation.
PISCATAWAY -- Students from Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus are clashing with Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden students on social media over tickets for the commencement ceremony where President Barack Obama will speak.
The ceremony at High Point Solutions Stadium on May 15 is for undergraduate and graduate students who are earning a degree from Rutgers-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.
The university has invited graduating students from Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden to sit in the stands, and Rutgers-New Brunswick students are fuming on social media because they are limited to bringing three guests.
However, even if Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden graduates were not invited to attend the ceremony, the stadium wouldn't have enough room to accommodate a fourth guest ticket for each Rutgers New-Brunswick graduate, according to the university.
"Graduating students of Rutgers-New Brunswick and RBHS are not being deprived of a ticket because other graduating students are attending," spokesman EJ Miranda said.
The university invited the graduates from its Camden and Newark campuses so they could be part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Miranda said.
But that hasn't stopped students from debating the question of who should get first priority for a ticket: The fourth-invited guest of a Rutgers-New Brunswick student or a graduate from Rutgers-Newark or Rutgers-Camden?
"I can't believe I can't take my whole immediate family because we're inviting the other campuses," Rutgers-New Brunswick student Emily Lopez wrote on the university's Facebook page. "I didn't realize the former University of Newark and College of South Jersey are celebrating 250 years too! This is so ridiculous."
An online petition has emerged asking that Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark students not be allowed at commencement.
But those students are fighting back.
"Cue the violins for the privileged New Brunswick students who are complaining about their reduction in tickets," student Dianna Santiago wrote on the university's Facebook page. "Get over it, or don't go! More room for us!"
Rutgers has said it expects about 52,000 people to fill the stadium, including more than 12,000 Rutgers-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences graduates sitting on the field.
Those students and their three allotted guests would account for about 48,000 seats, leaving insufficient space for each graduate to bring another friend or family member, according to Rutgers projected capacity.
"While this limitation has understandably disappointed many students and their families, there was no other ticketing solution that would have accommodated every New Brunswick and RBHS graduating student and their families," Miranda said.
Capacity has not been a major issue for prior graduations in the stadium. There have been empty seats both on the field and in the stands as some students skipped the main ceremony.
The ticket limit is necessary this year because of "extraordinary demand for seating" following the announcement that Obama will be speaking, Miranda said. An unprecedented number of students have registered to attend the ceremony, he said.
Friends and family without a ticket can watch the ceremony at the College Avenue, Busch and Livingston student centers, according the university. Commencement will also be live-streaved online and simulcast of RU-TV, Miranda said.
Students receive their diplomas in separate ceremonies for their school. The ceremony for the Schools of Arts and Sciences, the largest at Rutgers-New Brunswick, is held in the stadium immediately after the main ceremony.
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