Due to the recent pandemic of the coronavirus(COVID-19), Rhode Island College has made the decision to cancel the class of 2020s commencement ceremony. Everyone understands the seriousness of this current health emergency and why it is no longer possible to hold graduation on the original date of May 16, 2020. However, we feel that after all our hard work we deserve a graduation ceremony and with that I ask Rhode Island College to rethink the decision of cancelling graduation and postponing it instead.

It's not right to take away something so important when students are still expected to work from home and finish out their classes during a pandemic. Students look forward to their college graduations for years and I'm sure no student would be opposed to graduation being postponed to a later date rather than it be cancelled all together. With that I ask you to rethink this decision to cancel graduation keeping in mind all the happiness this ceremony would bring to graduates, family, and friends after this health crisis.