Rutgers cancels commencement on campus for second straight year
Decision marks the second year that the university has opted to hold its graduation events on-line.
www.nj.com
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
That's not normal.Honestly I can see commencements in general going away for good. Part of the new normal.
That's not normal.
Dumb? We’re in the middle of a freaking pandemic and you think this decision is dumb. Nah, you’re dumb.So dumb and sad
Dumb? We’re in the middle of a freaking pandemic and you think this decision is dumb. Nah, you’re dumb.
Dumb? We’re in the middle of a freaking pandemic and you think this decision is dumb. Nah, you’re dumb.
I know people who’ve died from covid, you jackass. Keep being stupid.Just stay under your bed forever. The rest of us would like the freedom to make personal choices.
I know people who’ve died from covid, you jackass. Keep being stupid.
Rapidly improving, but can turn in an instant. This isn’t the time to loosen things up.my condolences..i do too.
It’s still dumb to cancel this 3 months prior when situation is rapidly improving
Rapidly improving, but can turn in an instant. This isn’t the time to loosen things up.
my condolences..i do too.
It’s still dumb to cancel this 3 months prior when situation is rapidly improving
Clear you have no clue how long it takes to plan and organize a commencement exercise. The campus I worked on was a fraction of the size of RU and we were well into detailed planning 3 months out.dumb to make this decision 3 months before the scheduled ceremony
Clear you have no clue how long it takes to plan and organize a commencement exercise. The campus I worked on was a fraction of the size of RU and we were well into detailed planning 3 months out.
Makes even less sense then.
they’ve already been planning and have been planning for so long..why cancel now? Plummeting cases, increasing vaxes, warmer weather. If these things don’t make it safe, when will it be safe?
It takes *months* to organize commencement. And while the numbers look good right now,, we still have to worry about the variants that are more contagious and (at least in one case) more virulent. Parents and students like commencement, of course, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't happen.
Clear you have no clue how long it takes to plan and organize a commencement exercise. The campus I worked on was a fraction of the size of RU and we were well into detailed planning 3 months out.
No they aren’t. You can still plan and discuss what can happen.There's a lot of planning that goes into the last three months before commencement. Your complaints are without merit.
There's a lot of planning that goes into the last three months before commencement. Your complaints are without merit.
besides fear of the virus..what is rutgers merit to cancel?
"Beside that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
so is RU cancelling out of fear??! Yikes. But science.....
You are wrong in implying that the science is against what Rutgers is doing. There is no way the United States is going to have herd immunity by commencement. Not enough people will have been vaccinated to do that, even if the vaccination program works out as planned. And that is discounting the possibility that one or more variants (and there will probably be more) resists the vaccine. Any commencement -- a University-wide one or one by schools -- is going to be a super-spreader event. There is no point going forward with planning because it is impossible that the pandemic will be over by then. Talk to any reputable scientist in the health sciences, and he/she will tell you the same thing.
No big events until the numbers are so low, the danger is minimal. The virus may never be fully eradicated, but it will eventually be weakened to flu-like status. Herd immunity, if it even happens, wouldn’t take place until this fall or following winter.so you’re opinion is no big events until the pandemic is over?
I’ve been arguing against this forever as I don’t see an end to the coronavirus.
No big events until the numbers are so low, the danger is minimal. The virus may never be fully eradicated, but it will eventually be weakened to flu-like status. Herd immunity, if it even happens, wouldn’t take place until this fall or following winter.
when is “the danger minimal”?
what number of cases constitutes “so low”?
It's a matter of judgment. At a minimum, you'd want herd immunity, accompanied by a long and steady decline in cases to a *very* low level, in combination with the variants (the present ones and the ones that come along) not being a substantial problem.
Yes, it's a slippery slope, as lawyers say. But the fact that judgment is needed does not imply that one judgment is as good as another.
Doesn’t mean you still can’t “plan” some sort of alternative.
There is no problem or liability for planning.The problem is a simple liability one. God forbid it becomes a super spreader event, we're in trouble. You know the media would be salivating about something like that happening here.
I think we'll be in a much better place in May. Are we going to be in place where there's enough vaccinated attendees to make it worthwhile? I wish but I don't foresee it.
There is no problem or liability for planning.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. - Ben Franklin
Doesn’t mean you still can’t “plan” some sort of alternative.
is there any evidence the variants today are any bigger of a problem than the variants in 2020?
Yes. Read the newspaper or watch TV news. The three variants that came from abroad this year appear to be more contagious and possibly more virulent than last year's strain.
It’s a budgetary item for an event that happens every year. Not like this is something brand new."Planning" costs money and takes up resources. Why do that for an event that is certain not to happen? And what alternative do you see? As I said, it wouldn't even work to decentralize commencement by having schools do it; you'd still have superspreader events.
there’s no real world evidence they are.
If there was evidence it wouldn’t “appear to be”...it woukd “be”.
there’s no real world evidence they are.
If there was evidence it wouldn’t “appear to be”...it woukd “be”.