UPDATED: Sept. 19 at 11:31 a.m.

Syracuse University officially announced on Thursday that it will hold Commencement 2020 on the Quad. 

SU will notify 2020 graduates and their families about the event schedule, weather contingency plans and activities within the coming weeks. Provost Michele Wheatly and Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, made the announcement in a Thursday email to campus community. Updates will be posted to SU’s Commencement website beginning in October. 

Commencement is traditionally held in the Carrier Dome, but the stadium will close for renovations in March. SU will provide a live stream from auditoriums for people who want to watch indoors, according to the Commencement website. There will be unlimited guests and seating and a detailed weather plan in place.

Chancellor Kent Syverud implied at Wednesday’s University Senate meeting that the annual ceremony would be held on the Quad. The Thursday email from Wheatly and Evanovich is the first official announcement from SU about the Commencement 2020 location.

In their email, Wheatly and Evanovich called the outside Commencement location a “milestone one-of-a-kind ceremony.”

“On any fall or spring day, the Quad is abuzz with energy and activity,” their email reads. “For decades, it has served as the heartbeat of our community. And on May 10, 2020, the energy will be more palpable than ever.”

The Quad is a grassy public space bordered by Hendricks Chapel, Link Hall, Carnegie Library, Hinds Hall and Huntington Beard Crouse Hall. It’s named after former SU Chancellor Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw.

The Dome is currently undergoing renovations to its roof as part of a $118 million renovation project, with the stadium set to temporarily close in March 2020. The university is working to provide the Class of 2020 with an opportunity to “bid an appropriate farewell to the Dome” before the closure.

SU has held Commencement in the Dome every year since 1981, when Secretary of State Alexander Haig spoke at the event. The Dome opened in September 1980. In addition to the new roof, SU also plans to install a new sound and lighting system and a vertically-hung scoreboard before the 2020 football season.

Some parents have taken to social media in recent months to air their qualms with the Dome construction timeline.

An administrator of a Facebook group for Class of 2020 parents shared a letter online last Saturday addressed to Syverud and Board of Trustees Chair Kathleen Walters that said students and families were “dismayed” by the thought of Commencement not being held in the stadium. The letter encouraged the university to delay construction on the Carrier Dome until after Commencement weekend.

Syverud said at the USen meeting that he had heard from “a lot of people” about graduation since April.

Commencement weekend is May 8 to 10. The average temperature in May is about 57.6 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Syracuse rarely sees snow in May. The highest snowfall on record for May 10 is 1 inch in 1945.

This post was updated with additional reporting. 

Published on September 19, 2019 at 11:15 am

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