A Message From President Bradley Regarding Reunion

Dear all,

I am writing with some profoundly difficult news about Reunion this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must cancel the Reunion. I am so very sorry and disappointed, as I imagine you are as well.

New York State has been hit very hard with COVID-19 and experts predict it will only get worse from here. We have, by state mandate, kept only 25% of employees on campus, converted all classes to online, and canceled the in-person commencement ceremony. Given these extreme circumstances, we cannot prepare for and properly host reunion, and, most importantly, we do not want to risk furthering the pandemic and jeopardizing the public’s health.

Although we will be unable to welcome alumnae/i back to campus for reunion, we have been working closely with the AAVC and our team here on ways to keep our alumnae/i together even as we have to keep physical distance. A very special thanks to Steve Hankins ’85, P’13, ’17 and the AAVC Board for their leadership and encouragement during this crisis. Please stay tuned for follow up communications from your class leadership.

I want to take a moment and express my gratitude to the many alumnae/i and entire AAVC who have reached out to offer support. We have received so many kind emails, and I cannot tell you how much these have meant to me and to all of us, as we struggle to make the right decisions in these unprecedented times. Please know that we are deeply committed to keeping a strong connection between the campus and alumnae/i communities and remain forever hopeful that we will be together again soon, when the threat is behind us. Thank you for your support, and please be in touch with any questions or comments.

If you want to see the campus announcement about online classes and graduation ceremony, visit: www.vassar.edu/coronavirus-updates.

With a heavy heart,

Betsy

Elizabeth H. Bradley, President
VASSAR COLLEGE
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
@EHBVassar