Graduation Plans Are Complete

HOPE FOR SUN

Commencement Plans Complete

Arrangements for MIT's 124th commencement on Monday (June 4) are 
virtually complete, as some 10,000 personsÄabout 1,850 graduates and 
8,000 guestsÄprepare to gather on Killian Court for the outdoor 
ceremony.

The major matter left unresolved is the weather, but the commencement 
committee has put in its usual request for a sunny day.

In addition, some special guidelines have been issued for security 
purposes (MIT Tech Talk, May 16).

Only severe weather could cause a change in plans for the outdoor 
ceremony, the committee said. In that event, information will be 
available on commencement morning through radio announcements and by 
calling either 253-SNOW for a recorded message or the Information Center 
at 253-4795.

Arrangements have been made for an alternate program in which diploma 
distribution would take place at several different locations, although 
this has yet to happen in the 11 years commencements have been held 
outside to accommodate growing numbers of relatives and guests.

The formal activities begin at 9:45am with the traditional academic 
procession. It leaves from the 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance to the 
Institute,  moving south for a short distance and then east on Memorial 
Drive to the court. The procession will be led by the chief marshal, 
Atty. Harris Weinstein, a 1956 MIT graduate, a member of the MIT 
Corporation and 1989-90 president of the Alumni Association.

The commencement program, starting at 10 o'clock, will have Virgilio 
Barco, the outgoing president of Colombia and a 1943 graduate of MIT, as 
the principal speaker.

Dr. David S. Saxon, chairman of the MIT Corporation, will preside at the 
exercises. Following Mr. Barco's speech, President Paul E. Gray will 
present the charge to to the graduates.

For the awarding of some 2,000 degreesÄa number of graduates get more 
than oneÄDr. Gray will present bachelor of science degrees and Professor 
John M. Deutch, the provost, the advanced degrees as two lines of 
students approach the stage simultaneously. The names of the students 
will be announced in an alternating pattern as the degrees are handed 
out.

Those receiving their doctoral degrees on Monday already will have been 
hooded in a special ceremony the day before commencement, Sunday, June 
3, in Kresge Auditorium. At the  ceremony, which is being held for the 
first time, department heads or their representatives will assist the 
school deans in hooding the degree recipients. The departments then will 
hold receptions for the graduates and their guests.

Following the commencement program, President Gray will hold a reception 
for graduates and their guestsÄand for alumni of the 50th reunion Class 
of 1940Äat several locations in or near McDermott Court.

There will be another important event awaiting some of the graduates, 
relatives and guests.

At 5pm on Monday afternoon, a commissioning ceremony will be held for 62 
cadets and midshipmen in MIT's Army, Air Force and Navy Reserve Officers 
Training Corps (ROTC) units alongside the historic frigate USS 
Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard Historical Park.

President Gray will introduce the guest speaker and commissioning 
officer, Navy Rear Admiral David M. Goebel, an MIT graduate and deputy 
director for international negotiations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
Adm. Goebel received the SM in nuclear engineering in 1965 and a nuclear 
engineer's degree in 1966.

Music for the program will be provided by the Northeast Navy Band.