Campus tunes in to inauguration

13 January 2009

ATTENTION: Reporters, photographers, TV crews covering Inauguration Day 2009; higher education writers and editors

WHAT

The University of California, Berkeley's first large-scale viewing of a presidential inauguration as Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States and the nation's first African American commander-in-chief.

The campus community and others will watch the historic event's broadcast via a big-screen Jumbotron TV and listen to welcoming remarks by UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Roxanne Winston, president on campus of the Associated Students of the University of California.

Student efforts here led to the voter registration of nearly 8,500 UC Berkeley students as part of a statewide Get Out the Vote campaign.

WHEN

The broadcast will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and the campus's formal program will start at 8:15 a.m. Obama's swearing-in is set to begin around 9 a.m., followed by an approximately 45-minute inaugural address.

WHERE

Sproul Plaza, near the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way.

WHO

UC Berkeley faculty, students and staff will be on hand for the event. The campus has invited several classes of children from nearby schools to attend, as well as local elected officials.

Tuesday, Jan. 20, is the first day of instruction for UC Berkeley's spring semester. Classes will not be cancelled during the inauguration, but some instructors may opt to bring their students to the Sproul Plaza event for academic purposes.

DETAILS

UC Berkeley Media Relations staff will be available to assist media on the plaza and at the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, where photographers and TV camera crews will be given special access to the outdoor patio area on the second floor overlooking the plaza.