Texas A&M announced changes to five events on Tuesday. From a university news release:
Spring graduation ceremonies will be postponed. The university is planning mail delivery of diplomas to graduates (with normal shipping costs waived) and is also considering opportunities for in-person ceremony options later this summer for those May graduates wishing to do so. There is no impact at this time to August in-person graduation ceremonies.
Final exams will not be taken in person. Online testing and other mechanisms for the assessment of student learning are under consideration in collaboration with college deans and faculty and will be announced in the near future.
Family Weekend, a 101-year-old tradition filled with dozens of events scheduled for April has also been canceled.
The Campus Muster Committee announced that the campus Muster Ceremony would not be held in its traditional in-person format in Reed Arena. The Muster Committee is working closely with The Association of Former Students to provide guidance to the campus and the entire Aggie Network.
And from the Association of Former Students, Aggie Ring Day in canceled. Most Aggie Rings scheduled for delivery April 17th and 18th will be shipped directly to Ring recipients. Ring recipients do have the option to have The Association hold their Ring for pickup once normal operations resume on campus.
Additional information about Muster from The Association of Former Students:
Amid increasing precautionary guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and in consideration of the well-being of those we serve, The Association of Former Students has provided guidance to our 250 local A&M Clubs and Muster groups on how they might plan for Muster in their communities. The full email can be read at http://tx.ag/musterguidance20.
The email provides assurance that that the name of every Aggie whose death was reported since the last Muster, including those on your local roll, will be called and answered with “Here” on April 21. Since 2018, The Association of Former Students has organized a live reading each April of the entire year’s roll, more than 1,600 names broadcast and livestreamed from the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center. Plans are in motion to ensure that the live Worldwide Roll Call takes place again this year, so we assure you that every name will be called on campus again this year.
The email also advises that despite the inability to host a physical gathering, the Campus Muster Committee is exploring collaborative, alternative options with The Association to ensure Aggies can experience this time-honored tradition.
A summary of the guidance provided to those organizing Musters is included below.
• Muster organizers may elect to postpone their Muster to a date later in the year, after the COVID-19 crisis has abated. While Muster is traditionally associated with April 21, it has been held on alternate dates in the past. It is more important THAT Aggies Muster, than WHEN they Muster.
• Muster organizers may choose to hold a virtual Muster, utilizing social media or other modern communications technologies to conduct a roll call for their area. A “virtual Muster” would in fact be true to the spirit of the most famous of all Aggie Musters, the 1942 Corregidor Muster at which Aggies “Mustered in place” by circulating a written roll, since it was unsafe to leave their positions while under active bombardment.
• Muster organizers may consider a combination of the two options, calling their roll in a virtual event on or near April 21, but then gathering in person for fellowship later in the year.
For more information about Aggie Muster please visit http://tx.ag/muster or contact Kathryn Greenwade ’88 at 979-845-7514 or KGreenwade88@AggieNetwork.com.