Fall 2020 graduates at Wayne State College will have the opportunity to enjoy an in-person commencement ceremony on Nov. 20 barring any changes in directed health measures regarding COVID-19.  

The college tentatively scheduled a Nov. 20 ceremony in September and confirmed that date with upcoming graduates in a recent email.  

As of Oct. 21, directed health measures required that indoor venues be limited to 50 percent capacity for large gatherings. With these mandates in mind, and the well–being of graduates, guests and ceremony personnel, each participating graduate will receive three guest tickets for the in-person ceremony at Rice Auditorium, and one ticket for Ramsey Theater which will live-stream the ceremony.  

Wayne State was forced to cancel its May commencement ceremony because of the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, but Spring 2020 graduates were given the option to walk at this fall’s ceremony or a future commencement ceremony at Wayne State.  

Because WSC was unaware until earlier this semester just how many spring graduates would opt to attend the Nov. 20 ceremony, they did not know how many guests would be admitted to the event until late October. Because Wayne County and the college itself have seen a relatively low number of positive cases since August, WSC opted to go forward with a ceremony.  

As of Monday, the college has seen 188 total positive cases on campus. 172 of the affected students have returned to campus. There are 16 active positive cases at Wayne State as of the latest campus dashboard update. The college has attributed much of the COVID-19 spread mitigation to the adhering to the four pillars of hygiene, masks, social distancing and self-screening.