The in-person commencement date for the now-graduated class of 2020 has been postponed even further, as UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said in an email that a summer ceremony is unlikely to happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The original scheduled date for the ceremony was May 16 and was first pushed back in March, when Christ deployed a survey to graduating seniors to choose whether they would prefer an online or delayed but in-person ceremony. According to Christ, the majority of the class of 2020 opted for the in-person option.
“While we had hoped a summer gathering would be possible, we still don’t know what the spread of COVID-19 will be in the coming months,” Christ said in the email. “One principle continues to drive every decision: protecting the health and safety of you and your family.”
Instead, Christ said in the email that the class of 2020 will have the opportunity to participate in the December 2020 ceremony or the May 2021 ceremony.
On Saturday, when the ceremony was originally set, Christ, along with several other speakers and many students, participated in a virtual ceremony on the gaming platform Minecraft.
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