Due to COVID-19, all events within the UT Austin community have been canceled for the remainder of the spring semester. While COVID-19 is especially important to deal with at this time, and students understand the gravity of the circumstances surrounding coronavirus, these cancelations highlight the possibility of graduation ceremonies and commencement being permanently canceled. We want to petition with UT Austin executives to postpone rather than cancel both the graduation and commencement ceremonies.

Each student eligible to receive a diploma in May 2020 has worked incredibly hard at UT Austin. The opportunity to walk across the stage and hear their name called at a University of Texas graduation ceremony is a significant moment. Canceling graduation would diminish this experience and would make closing the chapter at UT incredibly difficult. 

We want to ask The University of Texas at Austin to simply postpone the graduation ceremonies and commencement for the Class of 2020 rather than altogether canceling these events. This allows the students to receive closure at UT Austin and experience the graduation our class has been working towards for the past four years. What starts here changes the world, but we need to finish what we started. Hook 'em Forever!