One year after a global pandemic shuttered campuses across the country, colleges and universities in Western Pennsylvania are weighing the return of an annual rite of spring — commencement ceremonies.

The University of Pittsburgh, the region’s largest school, has announced it will stagger smaller in-person ceremonies at its Oakland campus over nine days between April 1 and May 24. Pitt officials said they also plan to stream events online for those leery of joining scores of graduates at the Petersen Events Center.

Meanwhile, officials at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg are taking heat for relegating commencement to a drive-thru event.

Soon-to-be graduates at the campus that enrolls about 1,500 students were instructed to be prepared to pick up their degrees May 1 and 2 at events that will be limited to one vehicle per graduate.

The announcement from school President Robert Gregerson that students would once again have to forego a traditional commencement ceremony triggered a Change.org petition. The online petition urges Pitt Greensburg to offer students who have weathered the pandemic and remote learning an opportunity to walk across a stage and collect their diplomas.

Brandon Reitz, 22, of McKeesport, a senior biological science major who launched the petition, was surprised when it snared nearly 300 signatures in two days.

“I’m the first person in my entire family on either side to go to college, let alone graduate from college. I already ordered my cap and gown. If I’d known they were going to do this, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “After late nights studying, working a job to get by and going thousands of dollars in debt, this was something I wanted to celebrate.”

Megan Bashioum, 22, a fellow senior, feels similarly. She is graduating with honors with a major in psychology and double minors in behavioral analysis and clinical and counseling psychology.

“My family is so excited. Seeing me walk is all they’ve been talking about,” Bashioum said.

Reitz said several of his friends began pitching alternative plans for in-person commencements to Gregerson months ago, suggesting the school use its soccer field or a local high school stadium.

They never heard back, Reitz said.

Late Friday afternoon in response to questions from the Tribune-Review, officials at Pitt Greensburg signaled they were having second thoughts about graduation plans.

“We are pausing our preparations to allow time for new inclusive conversations among students, faculty and staff regarding this most important celebration of our graduating students’ achievements,” school spokeswoman Susan Isola wrote in an email. “We will be focused on developing a plan that provides the best possible experience for graduates and their special guests.”

Isola said student leaders have been invited to meet with members of the campus administration. She said a Commencement Planning Team, composed of students, faculty and staff, will assist in crafting the ceremony for the class of 2021.

Regional roundup

Commencement plans across the region are a mixed bag, with university officials cautioning all plans are tentative and could change based on shifting public health concerns. All plans have been constructed to observe social distancing.

Pitt, for instance, will limit the number of guests and require that everyone wear masks. With smaller ceremonies, the Petersen Events Center and its seating capacity of more than 12,000 is large enough to permit the school to observe public health protocols.

California University of Pennsylvania, which will break commencement into three ceremonies May 7 and 8, likewise will limit guests and hold ceremonies in its 6,000-seat convocation center.

Amanda Considine, a Youngstown, Ohio, native who is student body president at Cal U, said students who have struggled through the pandemic appreciate the schools’ efforts to recognize their work.

“This is a huge deal, as both a student leader and a May graduate,” Considine said. “I’m so excited to have it, however it needs to be done, as long as we can finish with a celebration with the people we went to school with.”

Locally, only Carnegie Mellon and Carlow universities have said all ceremonies will be online.

Officials at Duquesne University said they are still weighing options, as are officials at Point Park University.

Penn State, with 20 campuses across the commonwealth, has been weighing its options since January. A spokeswoman for Penn State New Kensington, where 60 seniors are scheduled to graduate May 8, said they expect to render a decision soon.

Still, it appears some universities and colleges are leaning toward a spring thaw where graduation is concerned.

While ceremonies might be smaller, or held in different locations, it appears many graduates will have an opportunity to sport traditional academic regalia as they march forward to accept their degrees in person.

In Westmoreland County, Saint Vincent College and Seton Hill University are planning in-person ceremonies.

Saint Vincent officials plan to hold outdoor ceremonies on Chuck Noll Field in the heart of campus May 22. A spokeswoman for Seton Hill said the Greensburg university is finalizing arrangements for in-person commencement.

Like Pitt, Robert Morris University in Moon is planning a series of smaller in-person commencement ceremonies this spring to be held in its UPMC Events Center.

Reitz said he and his classmates would be happy with such an alternative.

“Since Pitt main is doing it, there is no way we should not,” Reitz said. “It doesn’t have to be a long ceremony. We just want to walk across the stage. They sell themselves as a small school with a personal touch, but they’re not really showing it.”

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