SU prepares to host Biden as commencement speaker
Organizers for this year’s commencement ceremonies expect more than 25,000 people in the Carrier Dome Sunday, including students, parents and professors.
But this time around, they’re planning for some new faces: Vice President Joe Biden and his Secret Service detail.
Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry will host their 2009 commencement ceremonies Sunday morning. Doors open at 7:15 a.m., with the ceremonies beginning at 9:30 and ending by noon. Buses begin running from the Manley Field House parking lots at 7 a.m.
Susan Germain, director of the Office of Special Events at Syracuse University, said her office mobilized a preparation taskforce when it found out in March that Biden would give the keynote address.
The group – composed of officials from the Department of Public Safety, Carrier Dome staff, the physical plant, SU administration and academic departments – has been meeting every week to make preparations for SU’s first experience of hosting a sitting vice president for commencement.
‘It’s our privilege and our honor, and we want to make sure we’re doing everything right,’ she said.
Biden, a 1968 alumnus of SU’s College of Law, gave the keynote address for the SU Law Commencement in 1994, 2002 and 2006.
Germain said in her 14 years at SU, this is the largest commencement she’s ever planned for. An average graduation year draws between 14,000 and 17,000 people, and former President Bill Clinton brought in 22,000 attendees when he spoke in 2003.
SU is installing metal detectors at each entrance to the Carrier Dome, and graduating seniors will have to swipe their student IDs to gain access to the processions. Seniors and all others receiving degrees have to be in place by 9 a.m. and they will not be allowed to enter the processional ceremonies after they begin at 9:30.
‘We’re telling everyone that,’ Germain said. ‘If you come in late, they won’t let you go to the floor.’
Both Germain and Tony Callisto, chief of DPS, said their biggest concern is that students show up on time and remember to bring their SU IDs. Callisto said there is a protocol in place for students who forget their IDs, but that it will hold up the process of allowing students to enter the Dome.
‘As processions start, that’s the cutoff,’ he said. ‘The idea of showing up at 9 to get into a processional that starts at 9 isn’t going work.’
Callisto said the local office of the Secret Service in Syracuse has been planning for months, and the advanced detail has been in the area for a few days. They’ve been working with DPS, the Syracuse Police Department, the New York State Police and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
Other significant security plans in SU’s past include when Clinton spoke in 2003 and when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave the commencement address in 2002. SU worked with the Secret Service in May 2007 when it hosted Irish President Mary McAleese.
Germain said security plans for SU’s big events have changed a lot since Sept. 11, especially when it comes to bringing in famous political speakers.
Biden hadn’t been elected yet when Germain first heard he was on the list of speakers a student committee had created for commencement.
‘At the time I thought, ‘That would be wonderful, but I’m not really sure that could happen,” she said. ‘In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t imagine this.’
Published on June 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm
