With the campus empty and Ohio’s shelter-in-place still in order, students receive confirmation from the college president that the in-person graduation will be postponed.

Adam Weinberg, Denison University president, has confirmed that the class of 2020’s graduation will be postponed in an emailed video today addressed to the Denison community.

He also mentioned that on May 16, there will be a virtual graduation for seniors, wherever they are for their family and themselves to enjoy. This will ensure that the class of 2020 will be officially graduated by May 16. It will also make the class of 2020, the seniors who got two graduations.

“I want to officially say what I suspect most of you know by now,” Weinberg said in the video. “The state of Ohio is on shelter-in-place at least until April if not through May. At this point, holding graduation on May 16th is unrealistic.”

The postponed graduation will be sometime between late July and early August with a selected group of the class of 2020 to help plan the on-campus celebration.

“We’ll nail that date down pretty soon,” Weinberg said. “But I want to start this week putting together a group of seniors who can work with us to plan something that’s big, bold and fun. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean we can’t do a really great graduation event on campus at some point this summer.”

He begins and ends his video encouraging Denisonians to connect and lean on one another during these difficult times.