President Barack Obama hasn’t yet agreed to speak at UC Irvine’s 2014 commencement, but the latest step in the campaign to woo him to the school is sparking a backlash.

As of Monday, 1,600 students and parents signed a change.org petition admonishing UCI administrators for not alerting them of plans to hold a mass commencement ceremony at Angel Stadium of Anaheim at a cost of about $2 million.

Though UCI has been publicly courting Obama for nearly a year, and the school has collected thousands of letters and postcards from students who want Obama to speak at the graduation ceremony, the school only recently cemented a plan to consolidate graduation ceremonies at Angel Stadium on June 14, whether Obama speaks or not. Cathy Lawhon, a UCI spokeswoman, said the single commencement ceremony will kick off UCI’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Traditionally, UCI holds a handful of smaller commencement ceremonies, one for each of the university’s colleges. This is partly because the largest venue on campus holds 6,000 people or a few thousand people less than the number of graduates in recent years.

About 8,000 students are expected to graduate from UCI this spring. If each student gets just two tickets for family members, a single ceremony would require a venue with at least 24,000 seats.

A few days ago, the school’s commencement website was updated to show that all graduation ceremonies originally slated for June 15 and June 16 are being canceled in favor of the combined June 14 ceremony at Angel Stadium, a day when the Angels are slated to play in Atlanta.

But some students and parents said they have already sent out invitations for the original dates. Others have booked flights from other states and countries. Petition signers also are unhappy because, they worry, the ceremony will now take five hours if each graduate’s name is called. The alternative, they fear, is that students won’t be able to “walk.”

“Administration simply made the change without any community input,” says Alex Liao, an international studies student and impending graduate. “While we appreciate our administration’s endeavor to get President Obama to speak at commencement, they have removed the specialness and meaning of our commencement.”

Liao says they are not demanding that the stadium ceremony be canceled, just that the smaller ceremonies be reinstated.

“The rapid change in the short period before graduation has come as a huge shock,” reads the change.org petition, which was penned by biological sciences major Ruchi Bal. “Many students and their families have already made travel plans, taken time off, and booked flights and hotels for the dates given to us at the GradExpo.”

University officials are aware of the dissension.

“We understand that students and their families may have already made plans that are upset by this change and we are working to minimize those impacts and make this a memorable and family-friendly event,” Lawhon said.

Students who have already paid to have invitations made can contact the school for refunds.

Lawhon says students also will get five additional tickets for guests since the stadium holds 44,000 people. Although the final price for the stadium rental has not been hammered out, Lawhon said, a good estimate of what UCI expects to spend is $2 million.

Stadium official Sam Maida confirmed that a contract has been drafted but said they have not yet received a deposit from UCI.

Many schools ask Obama to speak at their graduation, and there is no indication yet if Obama will speak at UCI. The campaign to bring Obama to UCI began last spring with an invitation to the White House, and a letter-writing campaign kicked off at homecoming this past fall.

On March 4, Dr. Thomas Parham, vice chancellor for student affairs, will fly to the nation’s capitol and personally deliver more than 10,000 letters and postcards from students and alumni to Obama’s scheduler’s office. He also will drop off a videotaped invite from UCI basketball star Mamadou Ndiaye.

Standing 7-foot-6, Ndiaye is the tallest collegiate basketball player in the nation and a popular presence on campus. And of course Obama is a hoops fan who played on his high school varsity team.

UCI has been told to expect a reply by April.

Student Body President Nicole Hisatomi said Monday that plenty of students are excited about the prospect of a sitting president coming to UCI, which hasn’t happened at the school since Lyndon B. Johnson showed up for the groundbreaking 50 years ago.

“I mean it’s the president of the United States coming to campus,” said Hisatomi, who helped with the postcard drive. “That would be pretty cool if it happened.”

At the same time, she says she understands families who have waited four years to hear their child’s name called.

“They just don’t want the president’s arrival to overshadow their own individual achievement,” she said. “We’re hoping that with the right words and the right effort we can get the smaller ceremonies reinstated.”

Contact the writer: 714-932-1705 or lbasheda@ocregister.com