This is what we'd be missing if we have graduation off campus:

Starting with the Class of 2025, undergraduate graduation will take place off-campus. Graduating on Sunken Garden, on our campus, is the pinnacle of our college career and an event many of us have been looking forward to. We start our LMU journey on Sunken Garden with freshman orientation; we should end on Sunken Garden, like all those who have come before us for the past 50 years. Like you, I love this university and want to share, with my friends and family, the campus that I've been able to call my home away from home for the past 4 years. 

The school has argued that continuing to have graduation on campus would cause a safety concern due to the large number of guests attending the ceremony. However, there are different options, other than relocating, that would solve the safety concerns while also allowing this long-held tradition to continue:

1. Splitting graduation into two days, with different colleges grouped together (eg. College of Business Administration & Seaver College of Science and Engineering on Day 1 and Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, School of Film and Television, & College of Communication and Fine Arts on Day 2). In the scenario where a candidate is receiving multiple degrees from colleges that have their commencement on different days would be able to attend both ceremonies.
2. Splitting graduation by college and timeslots (eg. Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts Commencement starts at 10 am, Seaver College of Science and Engineering starts at 1pm, etc. Note: These times aren’t accurate, and would need to be timed to account for, but are not limited to: beforehand ceremony preparation, the ceremony itself, taking pictures, and guests clearing out the ceremony area). This would happen over the course of 2 days.
3. Limiting the amount of guests a student is allowed to bring. Currently, each graduate gets to invite 9 guests to their graduation.

Click here for the original announcement from LMU to move graduation off campus