University of Michigan graduate Armin Moaddel waves from his seat during commencement at Michigan Stadium Saturday.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Refresh this link for updates as the day unfolds.

Protesters are rallying at Pioneer High School's football stadium at 8 a.m. and they plan to march over to the stadium at about 9 a.m. The commencement ceremony will last from 10-11:45 a.m.

If you're participating in commencement, attending the protests or ceremony or aware of any related news, you can:

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Watch the space below for live updates from AnnArbor.com business news director Nathan Bomey and reporter Ryan Stanton and photographers Melanie Maxwell and Angela Cesere:

11:37: Ceremony is over. U-M officials have left the podium. Graduates are celebrating in the stands.

11:35: Protesters outside Michigan Stadium have disbanded. Rally marshals directed them to leave as Snyder finished his speech.

11:22 a.m.: U-M officials are conferring degrees on graduating students.

11:18: Snyder ends his remarks with "Go Blue."

11:17 a.m.: Snyder tells graduates: "The best is not about being arrogant. It's about giving your best ... It's about giving your all and making a difference in people's lives."

11:12 a.m.: Snyder asks graduates: "What is your mission?" He says his mission is ultimately to make the world a better place. Says he set out to have three careers: one in business, a second in public service and a third in teaching.

11:10 a.m.: About two dozen students have their backs turned to Snyder and are standing either in their seats or in the aisle.

11:01 a.m.: Snyder is now speaking. Mostly applause. A few boos. No students noticeably turning their backs. Snyder says he will focus his speech on his experience at U-M and on his business career, not on major issues.

11 a.m.: Cheers filled the stadium when Snyder was granted his honorary doctor of laws degree just now. It's his fourth degree from U-M.

10:55 a.m.: Crowd gives biggest cheer so far for film director Spike Lee, receiving an honorary doctor of arts degree. Lee accepted with a shout: "Go Blue!"

10:49 a.m.: In ending her remarks to graduates, Mary Sue Coleman says, "For today, goodbye; for tomorrow, good luck; and forever, Go Blue!"

10:47: Mary Sue Coleman, about to confer honorary degrees, says "Spike Lee uses his filmmaking to elevate the conversation about one of our country's most sensitive topics: race."

10:44 a.m.: Coleman calls Armstrong "a proven leader." Coleman on Armstrong's status as the first openly gay student body president at U-M: "When this generated criticism and bullying, he did not blink. He continued to hold his head high as student body president and as a University of Michigan student and to speak out for equality."

10:41 a.m.: President Mary Sue Coleman just took the stage. "You are the first class to graduate from a renovated, expanded Big House," she told the graduates, adding she wanted a place big enough for their dreams and aspirations.

10:40 a.m.: Rothman, addressing the graduates, just told them that students have learned from this year's student body president Chris Armstrong that "When you do all you can for Michigan, it will do all it can to stand behind you." She was referring to former assistant Michigan Attorney General Andrew Shirvell's targeting of Armstrong in his blog.

10:35 a.m.: Jillian Joan Garment Rothman, a graduating senior, is speaking. She said it might seem depressing that the students have to leave U-M now. "But if we look back to what was, for many of us, our first time in the Big House, Sept. 1, 2007, we played a little team called Appalachian State. Well, now today seems a little less depressing."

10:32 a.m.: Gov. Snyder is sitting on the stage with U-M President Mary Sue Coleman to his left and billionaire real estate executive and U-M donor Stephen Ross to his right.

10:30 a.m.: Terrence J. McDonald, dean of the school of Literature, Science and the Arts is addressing the graduates, urging graduates to work to remedy wrongs in the world.

10:17 a.m.: Provost Philip Hanlon now addressing the graduates following the singing of the national anthem.

10:15 a.m.: Protesters who were at the rally have moved across the street and are marching and chanting outside the stadium. Hundreds of them are marching with signs and banners and chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho. Rick snyder's got to go." They've also been singing "We are the Union."

One protester who would identify himself only as Al from Pittsfield Township, expressed disappointment that the crowd was across the street at Pioneer High School while graduates and families were filing into the stadium. He said he felt like he had wasted his morning.

10:12 a.m.: University officials are walking on the stage and the ceremony is about to begin. Gov. Snyder walked onto the stage beside U-M President Mary Sue Coleman without being announced. Last year, President Barack Obama was introduced separately to a standing ovation.

10:10 a.m.: Ceremony was supposed to start at 10 a.m. but is late getting under way.

10 a.m.: Honorary degree recipients today will be Snyder, U.S. Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, film director Spike Lee, Ford Motor Co. executive chairman Bill Ford Jr., journalist Eugene Robinson and billionaire real estate executive, Miami Dolphins owner and U-M donor Stephen Ross.

9:59 a.m.: Loudspeakers just aired a statement saying that U-M values “freedom to express” political viewpoints and asked speakers to “please respect” protesters and speakers alike."

9:50 a.m.: One student sports "Fire Millen" on the top of his hat, a joking reference to already-fired former Detroit Lions CEO.

9:40 a.m.: Students are seated in the stands unlike last year when U-M set up seating for graduates on the field for President Obama's commencement appearance. Most students are seated. The atmosphere is festive. Smiles abound, and no students appear to have protest signs.

9:30 a.m: The Groove percussion group from the University of Michigan is entertaining the crowd as students file in.

9 a.m.: A few people standing outside the entrance to Michigan Stadium at Main Street and Stadium Boulevard are holding signs with the slogan, "Gov. Snyder — Some cuts never heal." A plane is towing a banner sponsored by the Michigan Nurses Association with the same message. People are passing out leaflets and across the street a banner reads "One Mean Nerd! Making Mean, Unfair Cuts!"

Protesters hold up signs decrying Gov. Rick Snyder's policies at a rally before University of Michigan commencement ceremonies in Ann Arbor Saturday.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

" ... We see not only an attack on the working class, the poor, we see an attack on Democracy. He wants to give away almost $2 billion to the corporations and the rich in this state. That's not right."

8:45 a.m.: Matt Schroeder, president of the Ann Arbor firefighters union, speaking to the crowd, decried attacks on collective bargaining rights and cuts to state revenue sharing that he said are forcing cities to lay off firefighters and ask employees to take pay cuts while paying more for health care. "We are being vilified and bullied by the politicos. We can't stand this any longer," Schroeder said. "People who work for a living deserve a good living."

8:43 a.m.: Fifth grader Lexie Salazar, from Haslett, speaking at the rally, said she’s afraid Snyder’s budget cuts will make it harder for her to become a zoologist. “I love animals and I think taking care of them would make a great career,” she told the crowd.

“If Gov. Snyder makes these cuts in education, my parents will have to pay a lot more money for me to become a zoologist. My mom and dad are both college graduates, and they want me to go to college. But we’re not a rich family and I have three brothers want to go to college too.”

She added: “If I don’t have an education, how am I going to be a zoologist?”

8:35: a.m.: State Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, just told the crowd at the protest rally at Pioneer High School: "These are not our values."

8:30 a.m.: The crowd at the protest rally has swelled to about 1,000 people.

8:22 a.m.: U-M senior graduate Zach Goldsmith, who organized a protest against the university’s decision to appoint Snyder as speaker, just told the crowd: “I’ve learned that the moderate Republican Rick Snyder is far from moderate indeed. His anti-democratic reactions as governor of our state have ripped away his mask and revealed him for what he is. I’m here to say enough to Gov. Snyder and to say loud and clear, Gov. Snyder does not speak for me.”

8:15 a.m.: 8:15: The rally is starting. The crowd is several hundred strong so far. Protesters are still filing in.

8:12 a.m.: Rally speakers include: Sean Smith, Amanda Seppala and Kortni Malone, all University of Michigan seniors who are graduating today; Amanda Caldwell, president of the U-M College Democrats; State Sen. Rebecca Warren; State Rep. Jeff Irwin; former U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers; former Democratic nominee for the U-M Board of Regents Paul Brown; Lexie Salazar, a fifth-grade student at Murphy Elementary School in the Haslett School District; Dexter teacher Autumn Campbell, mother of 8-year-old Eva; Ann Arbor Education Assocation President Brit Satchwell and AAEA’s Jeff Kass; Katie Oppenheim, chair of the U-M Professional Nurse Council and Michigan Nurses Association; Matt Schroeder, president of Ann Arbor Firefighters Local 693; Lawrence A. Roehrig, secretary treasurer of Michigan AFSCME Council 25 and vice president of AFSCME International; Bonnie Halloran, president of the U-M Lecturers’ Employee Organization; Elizabeth Axelson of the U-M Lecturers Employee Organization and English Language Institute; Ian Robinson of the Lecturers Employee Organization and lecturer in the Residential College and Sociology Department; Fred Veigel, president of the Huron Valley Central Labor Council; William Copeland, Ann Arbor public schools custodian; and the Rev. Gail Geisenhainer, minister of First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor.

7:51 a.m.: Adrian Cleypool, owner of Adrian's T-Shirts in Ann Arbor, is selling shirts for $15 with a cartoon depicting Snyder squeezing money out of a firefighter. "The unions are being squeezed and he's a symbol of the union," he said of the firefighter on the shirt.

7:40 a.m.: Protesters are filing in for the rally. About 100 have gathered so far. They are holding signs reading, "Where Are the Jobs," "We Are the People," Some Cuts Never Heal" and "Hail to the Workers."

The crowd includes a mix of University of Michigan faculty and students, as well as others.

Retired pension holder Fran Collins of Northville said she's worried Snyder won't listen to what the protesters have to say today. "I'm not hopeless about it, but I don't have high hopes. I don't think listening is his best skill."

What people are saying about Gov. Rick Snyder in Ann Arbor on Twitter: