SEMO postpones spring commencement due to COVID-19

With the end of its spring semester just six weeks away, Southeast Missouri State University has announced a postponement of its spring commencement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Unfortunately, current social distancing guidelines have forced us to make this very difficult decision,” Southeast president Carlos Vargas said in a video posted on the university’s website Thursday morning.

More than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students would have been eligible to receive degrees in the university’s spring commencement, which had been scheduled for May 16 in the Show Me Center.

In a message directed to those students, Vargas said the university will reschedule its commencement activities “when it is safe and appropriate” to do so.

“Rest assured, you will graduate,” he told them, “and we will help you with your job search, your preparation for graduate school or however we can best support you.”

In the meantime, he encouraged them and all other Southeast students to “continue to learn and earn credits” toward their degrees. Classes at Southeast have not met “in person” since before the school’s spring break in mid-March and the school has continued class activities online. University offices are closed until at least April 19.

“We’re still planning to celebrate this milestone with you,” Vargas said in his online comments to the degree candidates, “but we are concerned about your safety and health as well as that of your families, friends and our community.”

Commencement programs will be sent to all of the students eligible for graduation and the university is asking them to share stories and photos of their years at Southeast, which will be posted online and through social media.

“To the best of my knowledge, we have not ever before postponed a commencement ceremony at Southeast,” Ann Hayes, Southeast’s director of communications, told the Southeast Missourian.

For more information about the commencement postponement, visit www.semo.edu/sealerts/covid19/commencement.