Approximately 280 graduates received their degrees at the 12:30 p.m. ceremony, held outdoors on campus but under a tent due to the rain. The ceremony is expected to be the private college’s final commencement before it“My sincere hope is that you will always think of Bloomfield College as home, even though we’re going to be Bloomfield College of Montclair State University,” the college’s president, Marcheta P. Evans, told the graduates.
“We asked for help, and fortunately for us, even though that was a huge risk, there was a neighbor, just about 10 minutes away from us, that answered that call and came and said, ‘We want to help, we have similar missions, we have similar students and we want to make sure that Bloomfield College continues.’ Because the reality is, we were not even going to make it to this year financially,” Evans said.“We are poised, right now, to make amazing things happen ..
The graduates included those who finished their studies in December and a larger group concluding their course work this spring, officials said.“We leave here as representations of not only the 150th graduating class of Bloomfield College but the final graduating class of Bloomfield College,” Rivera told fellow graduates.“Our freshman year came to a sudden halt due to the pandemic, resulting in us spending half of our college years virtually. Junior year was just our first full year of college.
Some Bloomfield College professors and staff will lose their jobs due to the merger, officials said. Montclair State announced March 1 that it is, or about 13% of the faculty and staff.