Pictured Above: All three campuses will be invited to a university-wide commencement ceremony.
Courtesy of Tara Zimmerman
By Sophie Ojdanic
Students will not be permitted to cross the stage this spring during the first in-person commencement since fall 2019.
President Steve Currall issued an announcement Monday afternoon that said, in accordance with USF’s transition back to in-person classes, the university will hold a three-day commencement ceremony at Tropicana Field, tentatively scheduled for May 7 to May 9.
Because the university has consolidated, graduates from all three campuses will be invited to one, university-wide commencement.
Changes included:
**A two guest limit for students. Guests must be registered in advance; other guests will be able to watch the commencement via a livestream.
**Required face masks regardless of whether an individual has been vaccinated.
**Students will not have their names announced or be permitted to walk across the stage at the ceremony. Doctoral hoods will be worn throughout the ceremony.
**Bags are not permitted into the stadium.
**Commencement photos will be taken in the weeks before commencement “at quintessential spots on campus” rather than at the ceremony to “experience the celebratory moment of having your official commencement photo taken,” according to the announcement.
Students who wish to attend commencement must register here by April 5.
“Based on the number of RSVPs we receive, USF will determine the number of ceremonies that will be held in order to adhere to COVID-19 protocols,” Currall wrote in the letter.
No non-registered students will be permitted to attend commencement.
Graduates from spring 2020, summer 2020 and fall 2020 who did not get an in-person commencement will be invited to “a more traditional commencement later this year, once we are able to reduce COVID-19 restrictions,” according to the announcement.
Students were excited to have the opportunity.
“I graduate this semester and after how much of the college experience we have all been unfortunately robbed of, this will really help make things feel more satisfying,” USF Tampa psychology major Ciara Compart said in a Facebook comment to The Crow’s Nest. “To know that my friends and family get to help me celebrate my hard work… I will absolutely be going.”
Although, Compart said, she was disappointed that students will not be receiving individual recognition at the ceremony.
“I guess I thought it was going to be more traditional-style,” Compart said.
William Trippett, a spring 2020 graduate, said the ceremony’s purpose was defeated by eliminating the individual recognition.
“If you can’t walk across the stage, hear your name announced and receive your diploma, why even attend? That is the whole point of the ceremony,” Trippett said in a Facebook comment to The Crow’s Nest. “Of course they want you to spend the money on regalia, even though no one will really see you…”
