KU commencement set for Sunday, with stadium construction changing logistics

KU commencement was set for 10:30 a.m. Sunday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, and families heading to Lawrence needed to plan around more than the usual graduation-day crowd. Graduates were told to assemble on Memorial Drive by 10 a.m. for the procession through the Memorial Campanile and down The Hill, and KU said the full ceremony was expected to wrap by 12:30 p.m.

The stadium opened at 9 a.m. for guests, but construction at the north end and west side of the venue changed how people got in and where they could sit. KU said all guests had to enter through the west or north gates, specifically Gates 1, 2, 3 and 5. Only sections 1 through 17 on the west and north sides were available for Commencement, and there was no overflow seating on the field. Accessible seating was available in the west and north stands, with west-side elevators open for limited-mobility and wheelchair access.

For guests who did not want to enter the stadium, KU directed them to alternate viewing locations at the Kansas Union, the Jayhawk Welcome Center and the University of Kansas Conference Center. The ceremony was also broadcast live with captions, giving families another way to follow the event while managing the crowd and the construction-related restrictions. KU described Commencement as a university-wide, no-ticket-required event for graduates from all KU campuses.

The logistics reflected the scale of the Gateway District project, which began in November 2023 and includes renovations to the west and north sides of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium plus a conference center in the north bowl. The changes are part of a larger reworking of KU’s northern campus edge, even as the university keeps one of its biggest public ceremonies in the same place.

That setting carries its own history. David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium was dedicated on Nov. 11, 1922, to honor 130 people from KU’s students, faculty, staff and alumni who died in World War I. More than a century later, the stadium again served as a focal point for the university, but this time with construction fencing, limited seating and controlled entry shaping how thousands of graduates and relatives experienced the day.