What Guests Need to Know
Guest Entry and Seating
Please note that parking availability in the TD Garden area will be very limited. We highly recommend that you use public transportation or commuter rails service to travel to the TD Garden. All guests for the morning ceremony should enter the TD Garden at North Station Level 1 (cross platform) from Legends Way or Nashua Street and proceed to the escalator to the Level 2 turnstiles. Individuals with mobility issues may use the elevator located in the center of the cross platform to reach Level 2.
Guests attending the afternoon ceremony should enter at the main entrance and side entrances of Matthews Arena on St. Botolph Street. Individuals with mobility issues may use the wheelchair lift to the right inside the main entrance. Commencement and/or arena staff will be available to assist you. Guests will be admitted by ticket only; seating will be general.
Specific seating locations have been designated within the TD Garden and Matthews Arena for wheelchair access only. Guests who use wheelchairs are to be accompanied by no more than one escort, and will be directed to these areas by facility personnel. Availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Handicapped parking for the TD Garden is available in specified spaces in the area parking garages. For TD Garden general parking information visit http://www.tdbanknorthgarden.com/. Please keep in mind that parking facilities may be located a distance from the facility and is therefore advisable that you bring/rent a wheelchair for your guest. Drop off availability at Matthews Arena only.
Sign-language interpreters will be available at both the morning and afternoon commencement ceremonies. Special seating for visual access to interpreters will be provided in section 21 at the TD Garden and section 24 (unless otherwise directed) at Matthews Arena. Space is limited, and as such, persons will be admitted to this section with one escort only. A member of the commencement staff will be posted in these areas for your assistance and direction.
Graduates will be seated according to college and degree (a graduate seating plan is noted on page TBD and will also be printed in the Commencement Program).
It is highly recommended that graduates make arrangements with their guests to meet after the ceremony at a specified location away from the immediate vicinity of the TD Garden or Matthews's arena. Your cooperation in doing so will help to alleviate the congestion resulting from ceremony attendance and expected pedestrian and vehicle traffic within the immediate area.
Facility Protocol
Alcoholic beverages are not allowed at the commencement ceremony. The TD Garden security officers and Northeastern University Campus Police will confiscate any alcoholic beverages brought into the TD Garden or Matthews Arena. Guests attending the ceremonies are advised that bags, wrapped gifts, backpacks, luggage, coolers, parcels, briefcases, and all like articles will be strictly prohibited from the facility. Note: Helium-filled balloons will not be allowed in the TD Garden. All guests will be subject to search, at the discretion of the TD Garden and Northeastern University, of their person and/or possessions (including women's handbags of normal size, which may be allowed entry after such search). Patrons with prohibited articles will be turned away at the entrances and no storage or "check-in area" will be provided for such items. Enforcement will be without exception. Out of consideration for others, we ask that cellular telephones be turned off during the ceremony and that all guests remain seated until the end of the ceremony and after all the graduates have left the arena. For your convenience, Northeastern University commencement staff and TD Garden or Matthews Arena personnel will be available to assist you and to answer any questions you may have.