For the second year in a row, Coronavirus has made in-person graduations impossible
By: Anttoni Numminen
Caption: "Summer Graduation July 2011"by uonottingham is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The University has announced that it will be cancelling in-person summer graduations due to the likelihood of continued Coronavirus restrictions.
The announcement, made in an email to students, said that instead, 'an online alternative would be delivered'.
"Regretfully, and following detailed consideration, we have taken the decision to cancel our plans for on-campus summer graduations. The decision has been taken due to the likelihood of continued restrictions impacting on our ability to deliver traditional in-person ceremonies for all our graduates", stated the email.
Fourth-year student, George Taylor, said he was expecting the ceremony to be cancelled though his family had been making plans to attend.
"It's going to be really disappointing for them, they were so looking forward to it. Neither of my folks went to university so it was a big deal for them.
As was the case for students who had their graduations cancelled last year, the University says it intends to offer an alternative celebratory event "when circumstances permit us to effectively deliver the event without the risk of cancellation."
However, Taylor said that he was more concerned by what he saw as the University's failure to support students, "especially in the University Senate rejecting a No Detriment policy."
"A cancelled graduation pales into insignificance if we don't have the proper support for our degrees."
The No Detriment policy was also touched up in the email, with the University saying: "The Principal has called an additional meeting of Senate to discuss a revised approach towards fair and consistent assessment. This meeting will take place on 3 March, working towards 17 March as the date for a final decision on the proposal."
It is not known whether a No Detriment Policy will be voted upon at the upcoming meeting.
