After being kicked off campus back in March of 2020, almost exactly a year ago, the class of 2021 had no idea that it may be the last time to experience the Caltech community. As the then-seniors grappled with the idea of never seeing their friends again, the then-juniors comforted the class of 2020. The juniors were upset too, but we maintained hope that we would have time together as a class in the school year of 2020-21. As a result, no one said bye to each other - we didn't feel like we had to. With the rush of scrambling to get back home, the class of 2021 only packaged our personal storage items, neglecting to wrap up anything with classmates.

A full year of virtual Caltech has taken a toll on students mentally, physically, and most of all, emotionally. We accepted the reality of prioritizing health and safety, but still held out hope for the last chance to be together with the people we have struggled and bonded with throughout college. Considering the vaccine progress and Caltech's small size, we believe that an in-person commencement is not only doable, but absolutely necessary. This past year has been disheartening; please give us the chance to celebrate as a Caltech community for the last time. While we understand that not all decisions are fully within the scope of Caltech, we strongly urge Caltech to communicate with Pasadena and LA County to make the appropriate arrangements to make a commencement happen. The lack of effort of Caltech to advocate for an in-person celebration in light of new, expanded health and safety guidelines is a deprioritization of students.

On April 6th, California announced that the state will be fully open on June 15th, which is only 4 days after the scheduled graduation. On this same day, the President Biden announced that all adults will be eligible for vaccinations by April 19th (most states are already operating within this vaccine eligibility tier), which is over six weeks from the current commencement date. If the whole state of California will be back to full operations, then doing an in-person undergraduate-only graduation is feasible and necessary. After a long and difficult year where we lost out on all of the traditions and memories, our graduation is our last chance to reunite and celebrate all our hard work. We know that a huge concern is the number of students that would be present, and we believe that the best option would be to separate the undergraduate and graduate ceremonies. This would effectively reduce the number of people at the ceremony, and makes practicing social distancing more practical. Knowing that other LA county universities like USC are having in-person ceremonies, the seniors feel as though Caltech administration does not care enough about its students to even attempt to schedule an in-person graduation. Honestly, it is hurtful to think that we give our all to an institution that does not respect and listen to their students’ desires. Signed below are the people that feel it is imperative to give the graduating class the in-person graduation that they deserve.