Dear Dean Valentini and Columbia College Administration,

For the past 3.75 years, the Columbia College Class of 2020 has poured their hearts and souls into this institution to make it the vibrant, engaged, and warm community that it is. We have endured sleepless nights and stressful final exams weeks during our time as students, but have always made it our first priority to show up fully for our peers and the University. Today, we ask that you, as an institution, do the same for us.

While we appreciate your hope for an in-person “celebration” post-COVID-19, we do not feel that this fulfills the Class’s specific desire to experience a traditional ceremony, a ceremony that many of our peers, including those at Barnard College and School of General Studies, will experience. For this reason, we ask that you specifically commit to postponing a traditional, in-person Class Day for the Columbia College Class of 2020.

We believe that the right to experience a traditional ceremony is only fair, considering our dedication to the College and the commitments of peer institutions to provide the same to their students. We believe that the existence of both a virtual Class Day and a postponed in-person ceremony, live-streamed for those who cannot attend, will allow students who both would and would not be able to attend a postponed event the ability to enjoy this special moment in our lives. 

Two of our peer undergraduate colleges at Columbia, Barnard College and the School of General Studies, have both committed to host in-person Class Day ceremonies once safe to do so. Many other peer institutions have done the same: NYU has committed to host a commencement ceremony “with all the pomp and circumstance [the Class of 2020] deserve[s] and that NYU knows how to muster.” Cornell University and Brown University have promised to hold commencement in-person when it becomes possible, Brown writing they “will do all [they] can to support new graduates who may need financial support to get back to campus.” The University of Pennsylvania has announced it will host commencement later on, “on Penn’s campus,” in addition to a virtual ceremony this May. Dartmouth College has committed to have an in-person ceremony, a day “filled with all the pomp and circumstance [the Class of 2020] so rightly deserve[s].” Princeton University has pledged to host a commencement ceremony next May as “a virtual ceremony is no substitute for the in-person ceremony [the Class of 2020] earned and deserve[s],” adjusting initial plans to account for student feedback. Harvard University is offering a virtual ceremony this spring as well as an in-person commencement in May 2021 with “all of the pomp, circumstance, and tradition that is typical of a Harvard Commencement — with as many of the traditional campus festivities that typically precede Commencement as possible.” 

Columbia College, please join your peer institutions and commit to providing your graduating class with the one event that most quintessentially makes one proud to be a Columbia Lion.