Speaking on behalf of St. Lawrence University’s class of 2021, we are formally requesting the University sets our Commencement date back to the original April 25th date. The points presented provide our reasoning as to the necessity of this date remaining the same:

-   Students who are currently operating remotely and are off campus this semester have plane tickets purchased for the intended April 25th date, with not all airlines guarantee changes and/or refunds of tickets already purchased.

-   Students arriving prior to Commencement are required to get three negative PCR tests in order to walk for graduation. By resetting the date to April 11th, off-campus students do not have ample time to adjust travel plans in order to meet these testing requirements.

-   International students who are on campus or students who intended to fly back home now have to reschedule plane tickets which have been scheduled for almost a year since the initial Commencement date was announced.

While we understand this decision was made to keep our campus safe from COVID-19, we are confident that our safety and action plan meets the requirements necessary to have a safe and COVID-friendly senior week. This plan involves the following:

As of March 15th, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has permitted wedding gatherings of up to “ 50 [people] capacity, with no more than 150 people per [outdoor] event.”
The estimated student population per section of campus remains under 150 persons in each of the following student residencies: Steiner Townhouses (~125 Students), Greek Life buildings (~120 Students), Theme Houses (59), Kirk Douglas/Jenks/Hulette/62 and 48 Park/Sykes/Dean/ CA's in other dorms (135). (Additionally, there are 35 students off campus, and 67 in remote learning). 
For Commencement, we propose that these groups of less than 150 individuals are placed into five separate locations on campus. The Intramural Field, The Lacrosse/ Field Hockey Field, Leckonby Stadium Field,  Creasy Commons, and Kirk Douglas Quad.
- The aforementioned location dimensions allows for rows of chairs (10 x 15 or 15 x 10) to be set up with over 6ft of space in all directions away from each other to ensure safe social distancing. 
Students will arrive in waves of 10 people (family units) in 10-minute intervals leading up to the start of Commencement into designated and socially distanced sections
- Commencement will occur starting at the same time with PA systems relaying pre-recorded messages from President Fox as well as other speeches and poems recorded by students.
- At the conclusion of Commencement, students will return to their living residences, where we will have virtual celebrations from the comfort of their residence halls and family units.
- Senior week events before the Commencement ceremony could all be virtual, with food and beverages supplied by the school available for family units to pick up in scheduled waves, OR if an in person Senior Week is wanted, it could be planned by the school with our class council in a way that ensures safety and abides by state guidelines, with all planned events consisting of scheduled events of no more than 50 people at a time.
- The week before Senior Week (finals week) seniors could be put back into Phase 0 living conditions (with food being delivered to living quarters or picked up at designated times at a certain location), to ensure that our COVID case number stays at zero (similar to first semester finals week).
- Every Senior would be required to sign a Laurentian Pact style document, agreeing that if they have a gathering that goes against safety guidelines, that is not an approved Senior Week event, they will face disciplinary actions including being sent home.

We are formally requesting that you reach out to the New York State government and request verification of this process if necessary (or we will ourselves). We firmly believe college graduation is of equivalent significance to a wedding.

With the factual matters of the concerns covered, we seniors appeal to the emotion of President Fox, the Board of Trustees, and Senior Staff. We have all made St. Lawrence University our home over the last four years and have dreamed of the incredible experience of senior week and Commencement. While we are aware it won’t be the usual celebration, we demand an experience that satisfies our student body. It would be a shame to have four years of lifetime memories end on such a sour note. Our seniors have modeled excellent behavior in following our re-socialization plan hoping that the more effort we put in now, the more likely we would have some sentience of senior week. In taking this experience away, we fear that individuals may be less likely to follow COVID restrictions now that they have no formal events to look forward to at the end of senior year.

We sincerely hope you not only consider our request but accept it and allow us to have the Commencement experience we all feel we deserve. COVID-19 has presented numerous challenges that we must keep having to overcome; However, a St. Lawrence education taught us not to give up in the face of adversity, and that is precisely what we are doing today.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cameron DeLo cdelo17@stlawu.edu 860.461.5254

Sydney Giacin slgiac17@stlawu.edu 314.435.3095

And the Entirety of  St. Lawrence University’s Class of 2021.