Dear Classes of 2020 and 2021 and Families,

When I shared our tentative Commencement plans with you, I told you those were our preferred plans and that we might need to amend them. At this point, the restrictions in Baltimore City are preventing us from offering the ceremonies we had planned at the Ridley Athletic Complex. To create the best possible commencement experience for you, we have made the decision to move our Commencement ceremonies to M&T Bank Stadium. I am delighted that we will be able to gather in that venue for one magnificent, combined ceremony for all members of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 on Saturday, May 22, 2021, at 11 a.m.

I want to assure you that we will make this a very special, historic celebration of you and your accomplishments.

In this model, each participant will be permitted to bring two guests to the ceremony, and all events will be live-streamed to ensure that your family and friends can participate even from afar.

As you are making your plans, please consider that this is a large stadium, and there will be a fair amount of walking from the parking lot or drop-off location to enter the stadium. There will then be additional travel to the general admission seating. Academic Events will be providing additional information for guests who require wheelchair-accessible seating or ASL interpretation. Captions will be available on all screens.

More Information to Come
Academic Events will be reaching out to all students who declared their intent to participate when they applied to graduate.

More information will be forthcoming very soon about tickets and the many other details of your Commencement ceremony, including information you need to know about what you can bring into M&T Bank Stadium and how to prepare for the day. Thank you for your patience and your flexibility as we finalize these arrangements.

Questions can be sent to academicevents@loyola.edu, and additional information and updates will be posted on our Commencement website.

COVID-19 Measures
Loyola is committed to making your Commencement ceremony a memorable day that fully celebrates you and all you have achieved during your time at Loyola. We ask for your understanding as we must continue to require mask wearing, social distancing, and other measures to ensure the health and safety of all attending. If you can be vaccinated prior to the ceremony, we encourage you to do so.

Please know that as much as we are trying to finalize our plans, these dates and details are, of course, subject to change due to changes in public health conditions and health and government restrictions. We might have to make last-minute changes due to the pandemic.

We fully intend, however, to execute this plan, and we feel confident that M&T Bank Stadium has in place policies and procedures that are approved by Baltimore City. I certainly hope that makes it less likely that we would need to change our plans.

Baccalaureate Mass
Because the city restrictions for our facilities are so limiting on capacity, we are not able to have all our graduates together for an in-person Baccalaureate Mass, even without families. Campus Ministry is working to make sure that our live-streamed Baccalaureate will be beautiful.

Congratulations
I am extremely proud of you and your achievements at Loyola, and I look forward to celebrating with you that day.

Sincerely,

Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J.
President