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2019-2020 Commencement Update

Published: April 13, 2021

Graduates,

We have been meeting regularly to assess the COVID19 situation to determine how best to host an in-person graduation ceremony in October. This week, we have had to make the hard decision to forego an in-person celebration. Combined with rising COVID19 numbers in Illinois and a pending flu season, it will be difficult for us to safely and responsibly host events with anyone outside of the immediate on-campus GU community. We have therefore made arrangements to offer an alternative online ceremony which I will outline below.

As you may have heard, we are in a testing partnership withUniversity of Illinois SHIELD Program. Every student, staff, and faculty member is required to be tested twice weekly. With rapid and repeated testing, we may be able to reach a level of biocontainment this semester, meaning we have few to no cases on campus.

As we would not be able to test everyone at the graduation ceremony and obtain immediate results, we cannot take the risk of exposing our current students, staff, and faculty and jeopardizing the remainder of their semester. Likewise, we cannot take the risk of exposing you or your families who have worked so hard for this milestone achievement. We must consider the safety of current students and alumni and their families equally at such a time as this.

Our hope will be to provide a separate graduation ceremony in May 2021 for any 2020 graduate who would like to return for the ceremony, provided we can host an event of this size by May. It is very difficult to plan ahead for large-scale events in this environment.

Until then, we are planning an online ceremony on October 18that 2:00 pm to honor the 2020 graduates. A link for the ceremony and more information will be forthcoming.

Best,

Academic Affairs Office

Greenville University

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