Photo: Dan Z. Johnson
After the recent change to the Spring 2021 Academic Calendar, Commencement for the class of 2021 is now scheduled for May 29, 2021.
We appreciate your patience as our Commencement Committee continues to work through many important questions and details regarding our upcoming Commencement ceremony. We remain optimistic about our ability to host an in-person ceremony on campus, and are working with the Health Protocols Group and Operations Planning Group to prioritize health and safety in planning for all possibilities. We will continue to communicate with our seniors, as well as with their families and friends, over the course of the spring semester.
As of April 1, 2021, our plans for the class of 2021's Commencement include:
- Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 29, at 10:00 a.m.
- The ceremony will be held outdoors, rain or shine. We are still working to finalize the exact location on campus.
- We will be able to welcome two guests per graduate to campus for this celebratory occasion. In the coming weeks, seniors will be given an opportunity to submit contact information for two guests, who will then be invited to register via a webform. Guest slots are not transferable between students, and no more than two guests per graduate will be permitted. While we encourage our community and their guests to get vaccinated, we are not able to welcome additional vaccinated guests or relax guidelines for vaccinated individuals under any circumstances.
- We will live-stream our in-person ceremony for family, friends, and community members to watch remotely, and are exploring possible opportunities for live captioning and translation.
- Any member of the senior class who is learning remotely during the spring semester (or who completed their degree in December) will be welcome to come to campus on Saturday, May 29 to participate in the Commencement ceremony in person, and may bring two guests.
- The move-out deadline for seniors will be 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 29, in order to avoid extended contact during move-out.
- All individuals present on campus for any part of the Commencement ceremony and/or move-out will be expected to remain masked and distanced from other individuals, and to minimize the amount of time they spend in any campus buildings.
- All of these plans remain contingent on the College's assessment of the public health landscape, and the level of campus operations. If for any reason, it is not safe for our on-campus community to welcome off-campus individuals, or to hold an in-person ceremony at all, we will adjust our plans and notify you. Should circumstances require such a change, the College will not be responsible for any incurred costs or cancellation fees. For this reason, we encourage any individual planning to travel to campus for Commencement to consider refundable travel or travel insurance.
We remain dedicated to making Commencement a meaningful conclusion to our seniors' years at Haverford, and appreciate your understanding as we navigate this year’s particular constraints.
Please contact Franklyn Cantor '12, Special Assistant to the President and Chair of Commencement Committee, with any questions.
"I suggest that you preach truth and do righteousness as you have been taught, whereinsoever that teaching may commend itself to your consciences and your judgments. For your consciences and your judgments we have not sought to bind; and see you to it that no other institution, no political party, no social circle, no religious organization, no pet ambitions put such chains on you as would tempt you to sacrifice one iota of the moral freedom of your consciences or the intellectual freedom of your judgments."
President Isaac Sharpless
Haverford College Commencement, 1888