CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The University of Virginia has announced a permanent break from tradition in how it conducts its Final Exercises ceremony. The university will now split the ceremony over two days. Traditionally, all graduates had attended a single ceremony on the Lawn, the original site of Thomas Jefferson’s university. Now the students in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will walk the Lawn on Saturday morning. Final Exercises for students in all other schools will take place the next morning. Pam Higgins, the university’s director of major events, says the change was brought on by renovations being done to the Rotunda and by ever-growing enrollment at the school. University spokesman Anthony de Bruyn says about 3,000 students and 18,000 guests are expected on the Lawn each day.
