SUNY Orange students,

After much deliberation and review of the current social distancing guidelines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I regretfully announce that SUNY Orange will delay our 2020 Commencement ceremony that was originally scheduled for May 21.

We all likely recognized several weeks ago that we would find ourselves in this position, even while holding out the slimmest of hopes we could go forward as planned.

I treasure our end-of-year recognition events because they celebrate your accomplishments. At Commencement, I watch with pride as you walk across the stage, have your name announced and accept the much-deserved cheers and applause that you have earned. I know that day is also treasured by your families and loved ones, as well as our Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, administrators, and everyone else who played a role, large or small, in supporting your degree completion.

For those reasons, and others, I truly wish that we could celebrate in our customary way, at our customary time. But, clearly our priority now is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve our own health, as well as the health of our College community, our friends and our neighbors. We are all in this together.

I’m hopeful we can find a suitable way to virtually recognize the Class of 2020 in late May, while also investigating the potential timing of an in-person Commencement ceremony later in the year. I’ve been working with Student Government, headed by Danna Nieves Velazquez, on possible alternatives and I promise to share all additional details as they are finalized.

I wish all of you the best of luck for the remainder of the Spring semester.

Regards,

Dr. Kristine Young