Commencement 2020: Preview

When President Salovey announced in late March that Yale’s traditional commencement activities would not take place in May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it called for a quick pivot by the team of staff members and students across the university who have been planning the ceremonies since last fall. A committee convened by Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews — comprising undergraduate, graduate, and professional student representatives, as well as staff and faculty members — began meeting early this month to help develop alternative plans to celebrate members of the Class of 2020.

The result is a robust array of creative programming planned for May and beyond, with special videos and other online content tailored both to individual schools and to the wider university.

In an April 27 email to all students in the Class of 2020, Goff-Crews affirmed Yale’s commitment to providing future opportunities for this year’s graduates to congregate and celebrate on campus. “Although your celebration is necessarily and sadly delayed,” she wrote, “you have earned the opportunity to wear your cap and gown, process through campus and Yale’s historic gates, receive congratulations from your professors, and celebrate with your family, friends, and classmates.”

In the meantime, the university is developing a dedicated Yale 2020 website, which will serve as a virtual portal to the alternative celebrations planned for this May. The site, scheduled to launch on May 11, will be announced in an email to the graduating class and publicized via YaleNews. It will present daily featured videos, images from campus and from graduates’ current locations around the world, and opportunities to connect via social media using the hashtag #Yale2020. On May 18, commencement day, President Salovey will deliver remarks via the Yale 2020 website, including congratulations to students and conferral of their degrees.

Yale College Class Day, typically held the day prior to commencement, has been expanded into “Class Week,” under the direction of a committee of Yale College seniors. Beginning the evening of May 11, Class Day video and web features — including serious and comedic reflections by members of the class, the Ivy Ode, the singing of “Bright College Years,” and the announcement of top academic, artistic, athletic, and community prizes — will launch daily on the Yale 2020 website through May 17. The Class Day address by gene therapy pioneer Jean Bennett ’76 will air on May 17 at 2:30 p.m., the traditional start time for Class Day exercises.

Names of all candidates for degrees will be displayed in recognition of their accomplishments, and school deans will offer personal messages of congratulations. University diplomas will be mailed or held according to the degree recipient’s preference. Other video components are being planned as special mementos for the graduates. Further details will be announced in university emails and on YaleNews in the coming weeks, and on the Yale 2020 website from May 11.

The timing of future in-person celebrations of this year’s graduates will depend on city, state, and federal restrictions that currently prohibit large gatherings. In her email to the Class of 2020, Goff-Crews said those decisions will be made when “restrictions are lifted and we can be confident that conditions are safe for our students and guests.”

Until then, the focus is on creating a memorable alternative celebration — one that will bridge social distancing and lost time, bringing the Class of 2020 community together from afar until graduates can meet again in person.