Graduation cut short, 7 taken to the hospital This sounds like a grade A fudge up, and one that was predictable for anyone who lived through the opening of Aggie Stadium. I can appreciate the challenges of the Pavilion, namely it has become too small for commencement unless you do at least 6 ceremonies (maybe a tough sell for the admins who have to go to all of them), plus add in makeups for 2020 and 2021 boosting numbers. I can also appreciate that some people, maybe grandparents especially, being apprehensive about being in a sold out indoor venue. If this was going to outdoors in June, it should have been under the lights. Or they should have rented Golden 1 Center for the capacity. Historically Davis has read names, but maybe it is time to consider other ways. For example, Stanford does a stadium ceremony with a kind of informal walk in, the speeches, and then they dismiss everyone to small stages setup all over campus on lawns and lecture halls where each department has a more intimate ceremony to read names. Also, maybe time to abandon commencement speakers. We may remember how long they talk but rarely what they say. As far as banning water, I’ve been to several UCD commencements and never remember smuggled booze being a problem. Sounds like a solution searching for a problem.