Musical Chairs

Starting the weekend before Commencement day, workers fill Tercentenary Theater with the 20,000-plus chairs—with 10,000 extra prepared off to the side just in case—to seat graduates and their guests. But any number of things can go wrong between Saturday and Thursday.

First, there are the thieves.

“People will come during the day and want to have lunch [in the Yard] and take [chairs] around the back of Sever,” says Assistant Superintendant for Commencement and Reunions Paul F. Remeika. “The night before Commencement, we count every single one of the chairs where the seniors sit. The worse case scenario is to come marching in and have no place to sit down.”

It’s not just the chairs that get carted off. Over the years, suspicious characters have absconded with practically every Commencement accessory, especially the school and House banners that hang in the Yard. “They cut the ropes or shimmy up the trees,” Remeika says. “With the ‘Veritas’ banner that hangs on Widener, we had to make up another one in four days. It’s 50 feet wide by 30 feet long. They said, ‘Oh my god!’ But they put all their people on it and got it done in time.”

Sometimes, though, with unpopular speakers, a little larceny might be welcome. Last year, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s speech left many seats empty. But Remeika says his staff tries to avoid that scenario.

“We try to anticipate according to who’s speaking how many people will come. We’ve gone in a half an hour before and taken down 5,000 chairs so it doesn’t look as bad. That’s embarrassing if you’re standing and you’re going to give a 45-minute speech and you look out and no one’s there,” he says.

Even with all the last-minute confusion, usually Commencement rounds out without any problems. But last year was another story.

“Last year, a student was giving a speech and he went to give the punch line but we blew a fuse on the [sound] panel. Nobody heard it!” says Remeika. “It happens—what can you do?”