On April 27th the LIU Pharmacy Class of 2021 was notified that our hooding ceremony will not be held due to concerns of COVID-19.   As a class, we represent approximately 200 students who have worked or volunteered on the front lines against COVID-19. Additionally, we have continued to help by administering COVID-19 vaccines in various settings across New York State.  This hooding Ceremony is a special recognition ceremony for doctoral degree candidates and is not only important for the graduates, but also their families, friends, staff and administration of the college. For graduates, it represents a culmination of the hard work, relentless effort, and dedication throughout our professional academic careers over the last six years. We know that due to NYS guidelines, we will not be able to have a "traditional" hooding ceremony due to social distancing but we still feel as though our class deserves a special ceremony to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment.  We are starting this petition in order to restore LIU Pharmacy Class of 2021's hooding ceremony, as well as, to ensure that future graduating pharmacy classes will be allowed to have their commencement ceremonies in order to celebrate achieving a significant milestone. As a class we will ensure that the ceremony will meet the safest COVID-19 practices. Thank you for your time and consideration.