You are invited to cover MIT's 1996 commencement on Friday, June 7, at which some 1,800 students will receive undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It is scheduled to be held on Killian Court, off Memorial Drive, starting at 10am. The academic procession will leave from the 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance 15 minutes earlier, at 9:45am. In the event of severe weather, the exercises will be moved to the Rockwell Cage.
The commencement speech will be given by Vice President Albert Gore. The traditional charge to the graduates will be delivered by MIT President Charles M. Vest. Texts of both talks are expected to be available about an hour before commencement. Tapes of Mr. Gore's speech should be available Friday afternoon.
Due to security constraints, press badges will be necessary and other restrictions will apply, as well (see below). The press badges can be picked up--upon presentation of credentials and social security number--at the MIT News Office (Room 5-111), located just off the main entrance at 77 Massachusetts Avenue. (Come into the lobby and take an immediate right; the office is the second door on the right). The office will be open at 8 am.
For the exercises on Killian Court, there will be a reserved section for reporters and a raised TV platform with sound feeds and power for about 12 television cameras. Still photographers will have access to the area in front of the stage in accordance with security arrangements.
PLEASE NOTE: SPECIAL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
- All equipment, including both still and television cameras, will be subject to a security check. The Secret Service has requested that all television cameras and equipment be set up on Killian Court between 7:30 and 8 am. The crews will then be asked to leave until the equipment has been checked. This would be a good time to come to the News Office for credentials and a cup of coffee. Camera crews arriving after 8 am will be subject to delays and could conceivably not be allowed access to Killian Court in time for the speaking program.
- All other media people with equipment--tape recorders, lap-top computers, etc.--would do best to come to the News Office between 8:30 and 9am, pick up credentials and then go to the main Killian Court entrance on Memorial Drive to have the equipment checked by Secret Service personnel there.
- The only access to Killian Court will be through that entrance.
PARKING:
We will have six van spaces roped off by MIT Campus Police along the west-bound lane of Memorial Drive, just east of the Killian Court entrance. These will be available on a first-come basis. One of these spaces has a line of sight to the Prudential Tower. No other parking will be available near the campus, so reporters should consider coming by taxi or MBTA.
SPECIAL PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES:
PhD Hooding Ceremony: On the day before commencement, Thursday, June 6, graduates receiving doctoral degrees will be hooded in a special ceremony in Rockwell Cage at 1pm.
ROTC Commissioning: On Friday afternoon, at 6 o'clock, about 21 graduating cadets and midshipmen in MIT's Army, Air Force and Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) units will gather in uniform at the Charlestown Naval Yard Historical Park, where the USS Constitution is docked, to receive their military commissions.
