They flew in and drove for miles to be there for graduation.

But parents and grandparents who were not allowed in to see the graduation ceremony for North Carolina State University’s Department of Biological Sciences on Friday evening are still frustrated and demanding answers.

Reynolds Coliseum holds 5,000 and can accommodate
up to 6,000, so when families were approaching the door and told they couldn’t enter due to the limitations of the fire code, there was mass confusion and frustration.

“So we were trying to peek in a window on the outside to
see if we could get a glimpse of a graduate,” said Sally Charlet, who traveled to see her eldest granddaughter, Jillian, graduate.

Although they were only a few hundred feet away, the whole family missed it.

“We were not late … That’s, that’s the crazy part about it. No, we were early,” Charlet said about arriving for the 7:30 p.m. ceremony.

Inside, Karen Holliday shared photos with WRAL that showed empty seats. Outside, families were furious.

“They
just came out and yelled really loud and said, ‘these doors are closed, no more
entries because of fire capacity.’ And everybody just looked at each
other like, ‘This is a joke. You got to be kidding me,'” recalled Dave Bartone, who was also denied entry and missed the ceremony.

Charlet showed WRAL News an email, forwarded from her granddaughter two months before graduation, that says, “Guests do not need to rsvp
ahead of time and will not need a ticket.”

“There were so many people that couldn’t get in,” she said. “They should have planned it. They should have done
ticketing, or should have done something.”

By Monday afternoon, Charlet said she and her family had yet to hear from NC State leaders with an explanation or apology.  

Later, an NC State spokesperson addressed the matter with WRAL: “The Department of Biological Sciences sincerely apologizes to those who were not admitted into Friday evening’s ceremony in Reynolds Coliseum. We were unfortunately unable to accommodate all of the families and guests inside the Coliseum. A live feed was established inside Talley Student Union for those who were unable to attend in person. The department, the College of Sciences and the university are collaborating to ensure the success of future commencement events.”

WRAL News sent the following questions to the university:

Was Reynolds actually at capacity? If there was concern about too many people, why were tickets not issued? Did the doors close a certain time? Where families were made aware of that time?

So far, the university has not answered any of those questions.