University cancelled the ceremony while the keynote address was on.
A university in the US cancelled graduation ceremony an hour after it started due to chaos caused by family members of some of the students. According to USA Today, the incident took place on Thursday during the graduation ceremony for the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at Howard University. Several videos have appeared on social media platforms like X that show a smashed door at the Cramton Auditorium and a group of people outside of the building. The entry to the event was free.
Citing Hilltop, the student newspaper at Howard University, USA Today said that crowd started forming two hours ahead of the 6pm start of the ceremony.
The outlet said that the university's security team closed the doors to the building's foyer after the seating capacity was full.
Videos from the ceremony show dozens of people standing outside the auditorium and shouting, "Let us in! Let us in!" They banged on the glass door leading to its shattering.
"While they were doing the keynote speaker, there was, like, loud banging, even before that, for like 10 minutes straight," graduate Bria Flowers told NBC Washington. "Just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."
University authorities informed students and their families mid-ceremony that the fire department had come to shut things down.
"Because of the size of the room and because our relatives sometimes do not know how to act, the fire department is now here to shut us down," announced Dr Gina S Brown, dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, as per a New York Post report.
But the fire department disputed the claim, saying they did not stop the ceremony.
"At 6:42 p.m. we responded to the Cramton Auditorium for a medical call at the request of campus police. The patient was evaluated and refused transport and D.C. Fire and EMS departed," the DC Fire and EMS department said in a statement.
However, many people slammed university authorities.
"All the money we spent. My father and grandmother came down from North Carolina," the outlet quoted a student as saying.
"This mother's day weekend Howard University shutdown graduation and blamed the families instead of taking accountability for poor planning. What did you expect when you have the largest graduating class and no headcount limit per graduate," one X user commented.