Students at a Minnesota college are being told that their graduation will be postponed until at least next year due to the coronavirus unless they identify as "LGBTQIA+ students" or as another minority group, in which case they will able to participate in a “virtual ceremony.”

St. Olaf College has told the majority of graduating students their graduation will not be held as scheduled except for some minority groups who will be given a virtual graduation, according to Campus Reform .

“Self-identified domestic students of color, international students, and LGBTQIA+ students” at the Minnesota school will receive their own virtual graduation ceremonies at the conclusion of this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, per an administrative email. Meanwhile, graduation for the rest of the class of 2020 has been “rescheduled for a date in late May/early June of 2021,” the St. Olaf website says.

The Taylor Center for Equity and Inclusion was established in part to celebrate the “awesomeness factor” of gay and lesbian and international students, according to the website .

“This event acknowledges the value and uniqueness of students’ experience and serves to commemorate and highlight the accomplishments of individuals within their familial and cultural context,” an email from the college stated, adding that the virtual graduation is scheduled to take place Friday.

Multiple graduating seniors at the college said they haven’t heard anything from the school about when their graduation will take place, whether online or in person.

The school is “exploring a number of ways to celebrate the Class of 2020,” the associate director of communications told Campus Reform, but nothing has been “finalized.”

More than 3,000 students attend St. Olaf, a liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, founded by Norweigan immigrant pastors and farmers in 1874.

