The members of Ohio State University’s graduating class are in panic mode — not because of mid-terms— but because they have to restrict their guest list at graduation now that President Obama is the commencement speaker.
After the university announced that the 44th President of the United States would address OSU’s class of 2013 on May 5, the school also informed the graduates that they would only be allotted four tickets for commencement this year.
The university doesn’t normally place a cap on the number of spectators graduates can invite because the school’s football stadium, where the ceremony is held, can hold 102,000 people. But as with everything else Obama does, he’s bringing changes to this year’s graduation festivities – including top-notch security and the rest of his usual entourage.
This will not be the first time a president has spoken during an OSU commencement. George W. Bush addressed Buckeye graduates in 2002 and Gerald Ford came to the Columbus, Ohio campus in 1974.
Obama typically delivers the commencement address to a handful of college and universities each year. In addition to Ohio State, the president has already announced he will address Morehouse College this year, the alma mater of Martin Luther King, Jr.
