Hello, my name is Kaitlyn DaVisio and I am current senior at the University of California – Irvine, approaching graduation this summer, 2020.  I am writing to express my disappointment with the decision made to cancel the Commencement Ceremony for UCI Class of 2020.  I thank you in advance for taking the time to read through my Response to the Cancellation of UCI 2020 Commencement. 

The UCI webpage explains the very foundations of the University are reinforced and progress is made when “different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us.” It is under this principle, that true progress is achieved from the cohesion of differing perspectives, that I write this letter.

In July 2017, I was notified by UC Irvine that my acceptance to begin instruction that fall had been rescinded.  I was shocked, horrified, and disheartened, but was not alone in receiving this rejection; the campus rescinded acceptances from nearly 500 incoming freshmen that year for varying, but inexplicable, reasons.  At the time, Chancellor Howard Gillman came forward and apologized for the “unacceptable distress” caused to students for this abrupt event. Luckily, my petition for re-admittance to the University was accepted and I began my time as a UCI student that fall, 2017, with the hope that my college years would become better than the rocky start I was given.  It is with this hope that I write this letter. 

On March 13, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Willie Banks announced the University’s plans to cancel the 2020 commencement ceremonies.  This announcement was followed by a mass email explaining that while alternative options are being investigated, no concrete alternatives are in motion and that graduating seniors should be on the lookout for more information to come.  While I am truly perceptive and empathetic to the current public health crisis that COVID-19 presents, I contend that this motion was tactless, ostentatious compared to current data on the course of the disease, and insensitive to UCI’s Class of 2020 (and especially first-generation students), and that there were other possible responses to the pandemic regarding commencement. 

If there is any way to induce panic in a population, it is to announce an unprecedented change to the norm without any concept of alternative solutions.  This is what happened when UCI announced the cancellation of the 2020 Commencement Ceremonies, but failed to provide an explanation of what sort of substitute graduating seniors can expect.  It is not enough to merely advise students to “look” for a message with more information; if the decision cannot be explained immediately and with comprehensive details, it should not have been announced.  Chancellor Gillman acknowledged the “unacceptable distress” caused to students in 2017 and, seeing as how this decision will affect near 17 times the number of students affected by rescinded acceptances in 2017, it would be inconsistent and hypocritical for the University to now turn a blind eye to the imposed distress.

Current WHO data indicates the number of daily reported cases of COVID in China are as low as 10 (as of March 13). As the coronavirus first originated in China in December, it is astute to look to China as an example of the course of the COVID-19.  With newly reported cases dropping from 574 on March 1 to 10 by March 13, the disease is likely in a de-escalation after running rampant through China for 2 ½ months. Assuming the virus would follow a similar course in the U.S as in China, we too should be in a de-escalation period come summer. Further, UC Irvine is the first California university, as well as the first UC, to make a decision so grandiose as cancelling commencement outright.

University culture is full of ritualized significance – ranging from the Convocation of new university students, to the Alma Mater, and to the Commencement ceremony.  These rituals are cherished and valued within our culture and each hold a unique significance. Commencement is not merely a pricey soiree, but a celebration of the time, effort, and dedication each graduating senior has bore into their undergraduate education and an important symbol of crossing a threshold into a new phase of life.  To deny an entire graduating class (conservatively, 8,500 students) the opportunity to experience the once-in-a-lifetime moment of undergraduate commencement is nothing short of a travesty.  Further, University of California Irvine specifically fosters a growing demographic of first-generation college students.  These first-gen students who pave the way for their siblings and children deserve a ceremony to commemorate their unique struggles and efforts. 

It is for these reasons that I propose to you all a viable option for commencement to take into consideration: not a cancellation but a postponement of the 2020 Commencement Ceremony.  Following the course of COVID-19 in China, the disease should be significantly decreased come September.  Additionally, there is a period between the end of Summer Session II courses and the beginning of the Fall 2020 Quarter.  It is during this period that would be the perfect time for 2020 Commencement to be held. This ceremony, much like the usual ceremony in June, would not be mandated and all 2020 graduating seniors would have the choice to opt-in to a Commencement Ceremony, should they deem it necessary for the completion of their college experience.  As not all students would participate, this Ceremony option would likely be cheaper in overall cost and thus rectify any concerns about finances, as there most certainly is already a sum of money allotted from the UC budget to the 2020 Commencement.  This Postponed Ceremony would remedy all issues as the spread and scope of the virus would be given ample time to subside and 2020 graduating seniors would not be robbed of their right to walk in a Commencement Ceremony following the conclusion of their dedicated years of studying. 

I urge the UC President Napolitano, UCI Chancellor Gillman and his Chancellor's Cabinet to take the sum of this information into consideration in your deliberation of Commencement solutions moving forward and I trust a speedy and fair decision will be made that empathizes with the students of which it directly effects.