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Two hours before the first of two graduation ceremonies scheduled for Wednesday, the University of Otago canceled the ceremonies and associated events due to a security threat.
Earlier this week, the university received an electronic threat focused on graduation ceremonies, scheduled for 1 pm and 4 pm, and involving 533 students.
The graduates in all their garb were gathering at the School of Dentistry ready to parade down George St when they were told the ceremonies would not continue.
Otago University student Jeorgia Gesthuizen, from Tauranga, said she was walking with her family to the Dental School around 11 a.m. yesterday to be part of a procession.
Minutes earlier, he had heard rumors that graduation ceremonies had been postponed due to a terrorist threat, but had dismissed it as a joke.
On his way to dental school, he received an alert on eVision, the university’s student management system, stating that his graduation had been postponed.
The threat was “worrisome” and she believed that postponing the ceremony was the right decision.
Miss Gesthuizen was ready to graduate after completing a Bachelor of Science degree.
She and her family had “dressed up” for the occasion.
Her stepfather Greg Purcell said he wasn’t sure what to do after the sudden change in plans.
“What am I going to do? Go to church?”
University of Otago Vice Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne said the safety of all who plan to attend the ceremonies and the Dunedin community at large was “at the center of this difficult decision.”
Police had “strongly recommended” that the ceremonies be postponed and the university supported that recommendation, Professor Hayne said.
“We know this will be incredibly distressing for all who planned to participate in the ceremonies in person.
“For many, this was the replacement ceremony due to previous cancellations due to Covid-19. We share their disappointment.”
A total of 1,600 students were also unable to graduate from Otago Polytechnic on Friday, 615 in person in the two ceremonies and 980 in absentia, while another university ceremony was postponed on Saturday.
Professor Hayne said the university will continue to work with police and other authorities as they investigate the threat.
Sandy Jefferies, a student at the University of Otago, Christchurch, said she would graduate with a master’s in tourism from Dunedin on Wednesday.
“This is the third time I have tried to graduate this year.”
The two previous ceremonies were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The postponement had left her “appalled, shattered and devastated.”
“It’s unbelievable … it’s like death.”
