To whom it may concern

The students of the University Of California Riverside would like to request that the UCR Commencement Task Force listen to the students concerns and work with us to create a graduating experience that would benefit us all. We understand the severity of the pandemic and would like to have safe options that properly follow CDC guidelines. Over the past year universities such as Texas Tech and Texas A&M have successfully planned in-person fall graduations last year in 2020. Texas A&M typically graduates around 5,000 students each fall across four to five ceremonies. But this time, they hosted 15 ceremonies over two weekends. Each ceremony was limited to 324 students and Graduates were allowed six guests who must sit together in the stands apart from other groups. Face masks were required and ceremonies were much shorter than usual given the smaller number of students and one/two student speaker at each ceremony.

In Lubbock, Texas Tech will allowed students to choose whether they wanted to attend a virtual or in-person ceremony. They held the ceremonies at the university’s indoor United Supermarket basketball arena. Students were limited to four guests. UNT allowed two guests per graduate and split commencement into two ceremonies at their outdoor football stadium. Sam Houston State University also spread commencement over three ceremonies at NRG stadium. Texas Southern University also held eight in-person ceremonies over three days at their indoor Health and Physical Education arena on campus, which will be streamed virtually.

Kean university which is also located in New Jersey, announced it will move forward with its second year of socially distanced, sized-down graduation ceremonies on the university’s football field during the pandemic. Lamont Repollet, president of Kean University, will be elbow bumping and taking socially distanced selfies with students as they cross the graduation stage, balancing safety and tradition as students and their families gather for the milestone that can’t be replicated via livestream and where able to do so by following strict CDC guidelines. We would like to provide potential options. 

The following guidelines must be employed as appropriate for ceremonies 

High risk populations should stay home. 

People who have COVID-19 or who are in close contact with someone who has COVID19, must remain at home in isolation or quarantine.

We would implement this is by spreading out over several days of commencements to reduce crowd size.

Consider the timing of when ceremonies take place. Consider weather conditions, such as sun exposure, heat, and rain. Take appropriate precautions related to weather protection

There should be no refreshments to prevent areas of congregation and additional areas to monitor. Restroom access will be limited and available for emergency use only.

Anyone waiting in line must be six feet or more apart from others. The school should ensure proper cleaning of facilities. Students and families should be advised in advance that refreshments will not be available and restroom access limited to
emergencies only.

 Ensure facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities and provide all necessary accommodations for students with special needs.

Set expectations, policies, and guidelines in advance, and reiterate those before the ceremony day and at the start of the ceremony to ensure overall health and safety.
Districts should consult with local public health departments, law enforcement, and
legal counsel in planning in-person events.

There may be no person-to-person contact during any ceremony. Individuals may not hand students diplomas, or any other items, or shake graduates’ hands.

Mask mandates and allow only students to be present and have out families watch virtually or there are several ways as demonstrated above. 

lastly we would have strict adherence to health and safety standards. Personal and institutional health and safety standards for on-campus activities will be developed by the UCR COVID Management committee to be consistent with applicable public health guidelines. This likely will include universal and correct use of masks, physically distanced seating in at least some of our classrooms, and regular testing of anyone participating in the commencement who has not been vaccinated. Any person participating in the commencement will be required to strictly adhere to these standards.

If we’re able to have safe gatherings for sports and have an organize fall instruction plan then we should be able to accommodate our students for such a monumental event, especially students who have been here for years, and have poured lots of money into this. Currently vaccination rates have continued to rise, case counts and test positivity rates have fallen substantially, and local elementary schools announced they are targeting March 8 for a return to hybrid instruction. If we have been able to create an instructional plan for fall that aims for a return to primarily in-person instruction and allows for adjustments to be made in the coming months as new information arrives, we should be able to follow similar guidelines and be able to create some option to have options such as a drive up graduation or give students the option to attend virtual and in person commencements with limited sizing.  Allowing both options will help to reduce and limit the amount of in person commencement while also accommodating to teach member of our community and their diverse and sometimes disparate needs and desires. We students ask that you think carefully about how our planning affects each member of our community and there diverse and sometimes disparate needs and desires. A successful commencement will require everyone the same empathy, generosity, and teamwork that made UCR a special place to attend before the pandemic. Ultimately We have faced so much within the last year that we’ve been remote. Walking or even being given the option to have a virtual/In person commencement or drive up commencement will give us some type of normalcy.