Much thought and planning have been dedicated to offer safe in-person commencement ceremonies. Graduates and their guests must wear face coverings at all times and remain socially distant from other parties. Face coverings must be made of cloth or other permeable material and must cover both the mouth and nose.

Each ticket will be printed with the date, time, location, name of ceremony, section, row and seat number. The tickets for a graduate’s guests correlate with a specific pod (a group of six assigned seats). Pods will be socially distanced throughout event arenas. If a graduate does not fill all of the seats in their pod, the additional seats will be left empty. Tickets may not be shared.

Here are additional safety measures you can expect:

• Events will not exceed 75 minutes in order to allow time for disinfecting graduate seating areas between ceremonies.
• Guests may pick up sanitizing wipes at the entrance of the building to disinfect their seats.
• No stage will be used in order to allow social distancing among the platform party.
• There will be no processional — graduates will enter and go to their assigned seat on the arena floor. The seats will be socially distanced.
• There will be no hooding ceremonies.
• Graduates may not approach the platform party to shake hands or otherwise receive congratulations.
• If there are materials for graduates to receive (such as a diploma cover), students will pick them up from a table.
• There will be no “roaming” during the ceremony — all guests and members of the media must stay in their assigned seats at all times.

For more information about campus safety expectations, visit the Show Me Renewal website.