[UGAalum94]

I don't think it happens because they don't know any better. It's because they don't care.

Sure, I think making accepting tickets contingent on following the behavior expectations would be great. Maybe they could sign something when they picked them up, and then when they were kicked out, officials could present it at court.

But I've been at many events at which announcements were made at the start of the event to absolutely no avail.

Some people don't care about others. If there's no penalty for them and theirs, they really don't give a flip about ruining the experience of others. Making a big scene and then getting kicked out wouldn't mar the day as far as they were concerned; it would just ruin it for everyone else.

I think if the school in question sticks with its policy, in a few years, its graduations will be excellent. But what I predict will happen is that all the kids will get their diploma on appeal, so people will learn that nothing really happens so they will keep doing it.

Sigh. Maybe we should just quit having them. Or have only private events put on by groups of the graduates who could set their own standards for behavior.

Edited again to add: I sit through at least one graduation a year; I know everything that the staff does to make the event go well: talking to the kids, sending home letter, announcements at the event. And every year, there are kids who screw it up and guests who screw it up. Why should it be so hard to do something nice? I honest believe that if we had the "act up and no diploma for your graduate" rule, it would work. We'd probably have to add tickets to make sure we knew which guest belong to which graduate, but I really believe it would change the decorum at the event.