Liberty Adjusts Graduation Plans To Hold In-Person Ceremonies

Liberty University plans to hold in-person Commencement Degree Presentation ceremonies for the class of 2021 on campus after Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday, March 17 his plan to lift certain COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings in light of the upcoming graduation ceremonies this May.

According to the university, the individual ceremonies hosted by each school will occur throughout the week of Tuesday, May 11 through Saturday, May 15 in various outdoor locations around campus, allowing family members and friends to attend. This change does not impact the main Commencement Ceremony, which will remain virtual.

Later in the week, Liberty officials announced the set time and date for each school, using William’s Stadium and the Montview Academic Lawn as the official locations for each ceremony.

Under the newly drafted plan, “graduation events held outdoors will be capped at 5,000 people or 30 percent of the venue capacity,” according to the governor’s press release. The university plans to hold each individual ceremony abiding by these guidelines, hosting a total of three or more ceremonies a day within the graduation week.

As the preparation continues, the university said in its announcement last week that it will “continue to monitor the latest state and local health guidelines in the coming weeks.”

In their effort to accommodate crowd size restrictions, “each graduate will be presented with a ticket for themselves and six tickets for guests for their degree presentation ceremony for seating together at Williams Stadium or the Academic Lawn,” according to the official commencement website. Further instruction via email on how to reserve these seats have yet to be sent to graduates for the in person and virtual events.  

So far, no information on this year’s Commencement speaker has been released.

Check the Liberty.edu/Commencement website for updated information about graduation week as the 2021 commencement draws near.

Hattie Troutman is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter at @hattrout.