Carnegie Mellon University is a top-tier university and its students are proud to be a part of this prestigious institution.  For many, they have been looking forward to walking the commencement ceremony from the moment they receive their tartan banner.  During the pandemic, many students struggled with virtual classes.  However and as inspired by Andrew Carnegie himself, students put their hearts into their schoolwork and persevered towards their goals.  Therefore, it would be fittingly appropriate if the students can celebrate their successes at in-person commencements.

All of us are now familiar with the challenges of this pandemic.  Carnegie Mellon students have handled themselves admirably in terms of being responsible to the community and to the school.  They have worn their face masks, adhered to social distance protocols, and participated in COVID-19 tests.  It would be decent to reward them with in-person commencements.

University of Pittsburgh recently announced that they will be holding smaller in-person commencement ceremonies.  They are also able to accommodate up to two guests per graduate.  We would like to respectfully request that Carnegie Mellon leaders consider a similar approach.  A cursory calculation suggests that Gesling Stadium can accommodate all of the graduates from any single CMU school along with 2-3 guests all while all maintaining the requisite six foot social distance.  This is, of course, just one of many out-of-the-box scenarios in which CMU can honor its graduates.  Carnegie Mellon is home to some of the brightest minds and we have no doubt that its leader can find a creative and yet safe solution to host in-person commencements in 2021.

Therefore, we would like to petition Dr. Jahanian and his senior leadership team to consider holding in-person commencements for the class of 2021.  Thank you.