ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It is a rite of passage after years of hard work and a group of Michigan students say the school is needlessly denying it.
With a stadium that accommodates over 100,000 people students say an in-person graduation ceremony can be held safely, but the school just won’t budge.
However, there is a virtual commencement planned for May 1.
The subject has turned into a heated debate between people on both sides of the aisle.
“The fact that the university has not put in the effort to make more in-person experiences happen like other schools that have successfully done so is really frustrating,” said U-M senior, Sofia Levinson.
Other schools including Michigan State University plan on holding some type of in-person commencement.
Some mothers have signed an online petition asking the school to come up with a safe plan for an in-person graduation.
However, the school believes it is still not safe.
“We have both the School of Public Health and one of the nation’s leading medical centers and all of those experts have been advising us,” said U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald.
He added that with the majority of students taking classes from home inviting them back is counter productive.