Members of the AU community who are planning to attend President Neil Kerwin's inauguration ceremony or the combined Inauguration Celebration and Founders' Day Ball will need to obtain tickets to get into either event.
The inauguration ceremony, scheduled for 11 a.m. on Feb. 8, is supposed to be held in Bender Arena. The ball, which is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. the same day, will be held at the Italian Embassy. While tickets to both events are free for members of the AU community, only a limited number are available for the ball and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis, according to Founders' Director Bettina Sferrino.
Students can obtain tickets for both events at the Student Activities desk on the second floor of Mary Graydon Center this Wednesday and Thursday, according to Acting AU Media Relations Director Maralee Csellar.
A total of 1,250 tickets will be available for everyone for the ball.
While there is not a definitive number of tickets available solely to students, there will be at least as many as have been allocated in the past.
There will be several levels of security for the ball. To get into the event, a person will need to have government-issued photo identification, his or her ticket and his or her AU ID. Every ticket will be connected to a specific person, so people will not be able to give tickets to others after obtaining them. Everyone will either need to check in at Bender Arena or at the embassy. Because there is limited parking available at the embassy, most people will need to park at AU and take a shuttle to the event.
Once people check in, they will get a stamp indicating whether they are over or under age 21. Once people arrive at the embassy, they will go through a metal detector, Sferrino said.
There will be an open bar available to people ages 21 and over. Additionally, there will be hors d'oeuvres, desserts and soft drinks at the event, she said.
