Cal Poly postpones June graduation. Here’s when in-person ceremonies are planned
Cal Poly has decided to postpone its graduation ceremonies until an in-person commencement can take place — but it’s unclear if that will happen this year.
The university announced Friday that it will honor the Class of 2020 in either December or next June, depending on the California State University system and local and state public health guidelines.
“Because of the rapidly evolving nature of the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot say with certainty that we will host a fall 2020 commencement in December,” Cal Poly vice president of student affairs Keith Humphrey wrote in an email.
The Class of 2020 graduation was initially planned for Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14. However the ceremonies were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While some students said they will return to Cal Poly to celebrate, it is just not feasible for others to come back six or 12 months after their original graduation date.
Taryn McLaughlin, an English major who graduated a quarter early, said she would have been open to a December graduation, but she has law school exams on the same weekend of the potential commencement ceremony.
“I watched all my sisters graduate. It was something I was looking forward to,” McLaughlin said. “There is just no way I can go from Davis to San Luis Obispo and back up to Davis and have time to study.”
McLaughlin said that if the graduation is held in June 2021, she’d rather wait for her law school graduation ceremony.
“For me, it kind of felt like it wouldn’t be worth it,” she said.
Another Cal Poly senior, Maria Shehadeh, shared a similar view.
Shehadeh, a biomedical engineering major, said she feels that most students will be on to the next chapter of their lives by the time the postponed ceremonies take place. She said many students she knows already have committed to post-grad jobs and moved away from the area.
“I just feel like our time was now to graduate and if they do have a graduation way later for us, it wouldn’t really feel the same,” Shehadeh wrote in a message to The Tribune.
She said her family will have a celebration for her and her friends will Zoom in regardless.
When will Cal Poly graduates be recognized?
So, when will Cal Poly hold its commencement?
“Our future commencement plans will be held when public health conditions allow us to gather as a community and with your loved ones in attendance,” the email read.
If large gatherings are allowed by the end of the year, six ceremonies — one for each of the colleges — will take place Saturday, Dec. 12 and Sunday, Dec. 13.
However, the university said “it is more likely that our celebration will be extended to spring 2021.”
If that is the case, in-person graduation will be pushed back to next June.
In that case, the classes of 2020 and 2021 will have ceremonies Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, June 12 through 14, 2021.
Cal Poly moved its spring quarter classes online and announced that graduation would be postponed just before the statewide shelter-in-place went into effect in March.
The university also committed to online summer classes and said the status of in-person classes during the fall quarter is uncertain. Even if students and professors do return to classrooms in the fall, instruction will look different, the university said.
Friday’s email said the university hopes to have more details by early fall about whether it can hold graduation ceremonies in December.
