Graduation ceremonies and summer ball cancelled at York

Sources from the University of York have today confirmed that graduation ceremonies and the Summer Ball will be cancelled due to Government advice relating to Covid-19.

Third year students received emails from the university today which outlined what would happen in regards to their upcoming graduations, which were due to take place in June of this year. The email states that the “University has taken the decision to postpone this summer’s planned Graduation ceremonies”.

However, the email then goes on to inform students that they do not need “to be present for their degree, diploma or certificate to be confirmed and issued to them”. This has raised the question of whether there will be any graduation ceremony for summer graduates this year.

Following this disappointing news, YUSU also revealed on their Twitter page, that they “have made the difficult decision to cancel the Graduation Dinner and Summer Ball 2020”. The good news, however, is that all ticket holders will receive a full refund from Monday the 23^rd of March.

These two cancellations come as the university continues to work in line with government advice and information regarding Covid-19.

Vice Chancellor, Charlie Jeffery, released a video statement today on the University of York’s Coronavirus webpage. In this he wanted to ensure that everybody was “clear more change will follow” and asked for people to “keep a close eye on the website” as it is the “most reliable form of information”.

He left viewers with an inspirational message, in which he encouraged them to “work together in the coming weeks and months with a sense of care and compassion”.

These cancellations come after a number of campus facilities have been closed until further notice.

You can keep up to date with the University of York’s response to Covid-19 and view the Vice-Chancellor’s message here.