UT Tyler Student Starts Petition Protesting New Site

TYLER — A UT Tyler student has started an online petition after a decision was made by the university to change the Spring graduation venue. According to our news partner KETK, the petition came about when the school decided to relocate the event outdoors to the new Patriots Plaza and hold just one graduation event, instead of separating schools with in the college.

Rachel Barbey started the petition on a site called change.org. Barbey says “students don’t want to sit through all of the graduates.” Nearly 3,000 have signed the petition. U.T. Tyler says, the graduation ceremonies have been moved to the Patriot Plaza, saying many other universities have moved their spring ceremonies outdoors. The school says they are aware of concerns from some students, and they are working with the student government association in a statement saying in part, “The extended Patriot Plaza has the capacity to bring the whole U.T. Tyler Family together to celebrate the most significant event of our university- The graduation of our students. The strength of our institutions is amplified when we are together and the current number of smaller ceremonies made that difficult.” The school says more info will be released in the coming weeks.