class of 2021
Cornell Announces In-Person Commencement for Class of 2021
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Commencement for the Class of 2021 will be in person, but the reunion for last year’s graduating class will still be virtual.
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/commencement/)
Commencement for the Class of 2021 will be in person, but the reunion for last year’s graduating class will still be virtual.
Several universities, including Ithaca College and five out of the eight Ivy Leagues have committed to an in person commencement ceremony.
I don’t think we’ll get an in-person graduation. I’m calling it now, maybe even willing to make a couple of bets on it. With only 81 days until Commencement Day, we’ve received no information. Nada. Zilch.
You lied to us, President Martha Pollack. In an email you wrote to us on March 20, 2020, you promised us that we would have our commencement, and, in your own words, that: “It will be a joyous one!…It will take place in Ithaca.”
And yet I awoke Wednesday morning to an email from Michelle J. Vaeth, associate vice president for alumni affairs, effectively crushing any hopes of the in-person commencement that had been promised to the accursed Class of 2020. (Seven hours later, presumably at the end of the workday, you deigned to tell us yourself).
In lieu of an in-person celebration, you offered — no, you told us — that we would instead have a virtual celebration as a part of the Cornell Reunion. If the past year has taught me anything, though, it’s that virtual celebration is an oxymoron. Haven’t we been subjected to enough virtual happy hours and hangouts in the past year to learn that they just don’t work?
At best, the virtual celebration will be mediocre.
This will be the University’s will be hosting its second consecutive virtual reunion — this year’s will include a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020.
Across the nation, classes have begun to transition towards being fully online. In response to the worsening spread of COVID-19, Commencement plans have been affected as well, throughout of the Ivy League.
In an email to students on Friday, President Martha E. Pollack said that commencement will not be canceled, although it will be postponed from its typical date on Memorial Day weekend.
As mounting concerns over COVID-19 become increasingly prevalent, the class of 2020 raises concerns about the future of their commencement celebrations.
Less than a week after Cornell unexpectedly cancelled all instruction until April 6, the University has finished ironing out details for how the academic calendar will be structured following spring break.
Nye told graduates of Cornell University’s class of 2019 that this time was the most exciting time of human history. In a speech littered with science jokes and references to his eponymous show, Nye touched on everything from climate change to education for women.