Events | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

In-person events on campus and sponsored by the university will comply with executive and local orders and guidelines, as well as public health recommendations.

Updates

Jan. 12, 2021: Social gatherings will not be registered for the first month of the Spring 2021 semester. The university will again offer COVID-19 testing for all students, faculty and staff, which will help the university understand its COVID positivity rate, and in turn, inform decision-making about on-and off-campus gatherings. Administrators will monitor testing rates from Jan. 19-Feb. 19 with the hope that social gatherings can take place after Feb. 19.

Oct. 19, 2020: The university launched a pilot to expand student social activities safely. The pilot is a two-week process to allow some off-campus social gatherings under delineated parameters and requirements. See Oct. 19 message to students for details.

Oct. 2, 2020: The university provided updated guidance about events, activities and social gatherings hosted by members of our university community, including registered student organizations as well as academic and administrative units. The guidance covers on campus and off campus gatherings. Read the full message.

Types of gatherings

Social gatherings: This includes parties, socials, dances and similar activities with unstructured mingling.
Events/activities: Gatherings that are structured around a specific program or agenda with social distancing and mask-wearing protocols strictly enforced and where unstructured mingling does not occur.

On-Campus Social Gatherings

On-campus social gatherings are permitted within the university’s current guidelines for social gatherings as follows:

Limited to a maximum of 10 participants indoors and 25 participants outdoors.
In accordance with current CDC recommendations, attendees must wear masks, use social distancing and limit physical contact by maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet or more from people who don’t live in your household.
Some social gatherings are prohibited on and off campus until further notice, including partied, events with alcohol, socials, family/parent weekends, dances and similar activities with unstructured mingling.

Off-Campus Social Gatherings

UM will keep a moratorium on off-campus parties and social gatherings in place for now. Any and all changes to this moratorium will be communicated to RSOs as soon as possible.

On-Campus Events/Activities

Organizational meetings, committee meetings and other structured events and activities that don’t involve unstructured mingling are permitted. Examples of such events and activities include committee meetings, sport club practices, meetings of a group or organization, new member formal initiations, philanthropic events, service events, sister/brotherhood activities, seminars, lectures or study groups. These events will be limited to the protocol-adjusted capacity of the rooms and spaces in which they are held along with the following parameters:

at least 6 feet of distance between attendees,
mandatory mask wearing for all participants and
a point person for the event to ensure protocol compliance.

Food service at these events is discouraged for now, although it could be offered with the proper protocols in place.

Off-Campus Events/Activities

Organizational meetings, committee meetings and other structured events and activities sponsored by academic and administrative units or registered student organizations (RSO) to be held off campus must be submitted for review and approval through The ForUM at least 15 business days before the date of the event, and attendance must be tracked.

How to submit allowed events/activities, regardless of venue

All aforementioned functions must be registered in The ForUM, regardless of how many participants or whether it will take place on campus or off campus. Designated personnel will review and approve as applicable.

Questions about your event?

Questions from Registered Student Organizations should be submitted to Will Takewell with the Ole Miss Student Union Student Leadership and Engagement staff. Questions from academic and administrative units should be submitted to Emily Ferris with the Events and Activities Task Force.

Facility Availability

The Ole Miss Student Union and Jackson Avenue Center are accepting reservation requests for certain rooms with limited configurations. Some other campus facilities that have been available traditionally for departmental and organizational events cannot be reserved this fall due to COVID-19 limitations. Contact managers of specific facilities with questions.

Tailgating

In accordance with Executive Order 1519, all gameday social gatherings on campus are strictly prohibited. This includes all tailgating, picnics and informal gatherings on campus. The ban applies to fanfare areas outside the stadium, including all green and other gathering spaces on campus. Areas such as the Grove and the Circle will be open for pedestrian traffic only. If you plan to host a gameday party off campus, please note current limitations in the City of Oxford are a maximum of 10 participants indoor and 25 participants outdoor.

Commencement

On Oct. 5, the university announced ceremony dates for the Class of 2021 as well as the Class of 2020. While we were unable to hold an in-person event for the Class of 2020 this past May because of the pandemic, we are eager to welcome them back to campus to celebrate and honor their achievements, character and spirit.

In anticipation that we will be able to interact more freely in May 2021, we are planning both commencement ceremonies for that time. If COVID-19 restrictions are still in place, we will make and announce any adjustments to the formats of these events. Details will be shared on the Commencement website as they are finalized.

Class of 2021 Commencement — The main ceremony and most individual ceremonies will be held Saturday, May 1, 2021. Some individual ceremonies may take place the day before or day after May 1. Details about individual ceremonies will follow.
Class of 2020 Commencement — The main ceremony and most individual ceremonies will be held Saturday, May 8, 2021. Some individual ceremonies may take place the day before May 8. Details about individual ceremonies will follow.

Note: The Class of 2021 ceremony will precede the 2020 ceremony because 2021 graduates will already be in Oxford completing final exams in the week leading up to the Commencement ceremonies.