December Commencement Ceremony

November 6, 2020

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

In light of the overwhelming feedback we have received in support of an in-person December commencement ceremony, we are pleased to announce that we will offer an in-person ceremony after all, for those who choose to participate. The ceremony will be held Friday, Dec. 18, in Tiger Stadium, with the time to be determined once we receive feedback from all our graduates.

If you are a graduate, your feedback is required by Nov. 20 in order for you to attend the ceremony. Please read the below information carefully.

This ceremony will be open to December graduates, as well as May and August 2020 LSU graduates who did not get to attend an in-person ceremony in spring or summer. However, any 2020 graduates who do not feel safe attending this ceremony will have another opportunity to attend a commencement ceremony in the future. And we will still have a virtual commencement celebration in December for those who do not feel comfortable attending the in-person ceremony.

If you are a fall, spring or summer 2020 graduate and would like to attend this ceremony, you must click the link below and answer a few questions to help us plan the event. Please read the details of the event, below, before you decide.

In order to hold this event as safely as possible during the pandemic, we will hold it outdoors, rain or shine. Please know that if the status of the pandemic in Louisiana changes, or if the state’s event guidelines change, the details of this event could change, or the event could even be cancelled. We hope that won’t happen, but we intend to follow state and federal guidelines for everyone’s safety. At this time, here is what you can expect at this event:

  • Each graduate will be allocated four tickets: one for themselves and one for each of up to three guests. More information on tickets will be provided to graduates soon.
  • Graduates will be seated in the stands at Tiger Stadium with their own guests and will be socially distanced from other groups. Masks will be required at all times.
  • This will be a ‘contactless’ ceremony, so graduates will not walk across the stage. Instead, their names will be read aloud and displayed on the video screen in Tiger Stadium, and they will briefly stand in place to be acknowledged by their guests and the crowd. Also, to remain contactless, there will not be a printed commencement program and diplomas will not be handed out on site but will be mailed to the graduates.
  • There will be a minimal platform party and minimal attendance by LSU faculty and staff to help further reduce the density of people at the event. The commencement will be staffed by professional event staff who will direct participants to appropriate seating, facilitate social distancing and ensure appropriate use of masks. Any faculty or staff who would like to attend should contact their Dean’s office for information, but there will not be a faculty procession and employees will not be required to attend.
  • If you attend this commencement ceremony, but in the future would still like to come back to campus to actually walk across the stage when things get back to normal, we welcome you to do so! If you do not attend this ceremony but would like to come back in the future to walk across the stage, we likewise welcome you as well!
  • Professional photography will be available to graduates to take photos on campus on Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 16-17. Graduates will be required to schedule a time slot in order to take advantage of this opportunity. For more information, visit Sign-up Genius. Please note that there will not be professional photography available at the Tiger Stadium ceremony.

To ensure that your name is called and appears on the screen in Tiger Stadium, we need to know exactly who is planning to attend. Please click this link and fill out our brief questionnaire by Friday, Nov. 20: LSU Fall 2020 Graduation Celebration Form. Only graduating seniors and returning graduates will be given tickets to this event.

More information on December commencement, the virtual celebration, and the time of the in-person ceremony once it is determined will be available at www.lsu.edu/commencement.

In the meantime, save the date, study hard, and stay well. We appreciate the feedback from all of you regarding this commencement, and we are doing our best to work within state and federal safety guidelines to offer our graduates this in-person ceremony. Congratulations to all our graduates, and Geaux Tigers!

Tom Galligan
LSU Interim President & Professor of Law

Stacia Haynie
LSU Executive Vice President & Provost

 

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