Though the official inauguration ceremony for University President Amy Gutmann boasted an exclusive guest list, at least 100 seats remained empty in Irvine Auditorium on Friday morning.
Organizers blamed the turnout on poor weather, but some students felt greater measures could have been put into place to include undergraduates.
"We had over-subscribed -- we had given out about 20 percent more tickets than there were seats," Kruhly said. Irvine's capacity is generally about 1,100 or 1,200 people, so University officials distributed 1,300 tickets to trustees, faculty, administrators, alumni and delegates from other Universities and learned societies. Gutmann also handpicked about 60 students to attend the ceremony, most of whom are leaders of prominent campus organizations.
"It's a good thing that student leaders were involved, ... but I feel that it would have been great had more Penn students in general been included," said Samantha Springer, Student Committee on Undergraduate Education chairwoman. The College junior said she thinks that, if asked, additional students would have attended.
Both Kruhly and Gutmann said they believe that Friday's rain kept many guests from successfully arriving in Philadelphia.
"There must have been a lot of people from out of town that didn't show because of the weather," Gutmann said.
Noting that her own daughter's flight was delayed for two hours, Gutmann said she thought some invitees "just got stuck."
"There was just nothing that could be done," she said.
The end result was over 30 unoccupied prime seats in the center rows of the first floor, and two half-empty balconies.
Though Gutmann said that "every student that asked ... for a ticket got a ticket," student access remained limited.
"I think that there could have been some way to involve more students," Springer said.
"All the students that were invited were really honored to be invited," she said, adding that maybe the organizers could have had "a lottery for tickets."
The ceremony was relayed live to various viewing locations on campus, but Springer said that there could have been more advertising as to how students could still get involved.
Though numerous e-mails went out to students about the symposium and other inaugural events, many students were unaware of the simulcast opportunities.
Nonetheless, Kruhly said the separate viewing locations were "well-subscribed."
"I think people who wanted to see this ceremony [and] couldn't see it at Irvine were able to see it elsewhere," Kruhly said.
Still, the experience of actually being at the ceremony seems to be one that students value much more than a video feed.
"If I had a ticket, I probably would have skipped a class and gone," SCUE member Phil Berkman said.
