US EditionColleges Are Canceling Affinity Graduations Due to Anti-DEI Policies. Here Is How Students Are Preserving the Traditions
- In late April 2025, Harvard University announced it would end all administrative support and funding for affinity graduation events on campus.
- This decision followed federal pressure, including a February 2025 Department of Education letter threatening to withhold $2.2 billion in funding over alleged diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
- Previously, Harvard’s department responsible for fostering a welcoming and supportive campus environment handled funding, venue arrangements, stole orders, and the coordination of these ceremonies, but now students must manage these responsibilities themselves amid unclear communication and considerable expenses.
- Elyse Martin-Smith, head of Harvard Undergraduate Black Community Leaders, arranged an off-campus location for the Black graduation ceremony on May 27, emphasizing that the event’s agenda will closely resemble what was originally planned despite the loss of university funding.
- Harvard's withdrawal reflects broader anti-DEI policies at federal and state levels, forcing students nationwide to find new ways to preserve culturally specific graduation traditions.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Universidades cancelan graduaciones por afinidad debido a políticas antidiversidad, pero los alumnos preservan tradiciones
Por Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN Elyse Martin-Smith empezó a reunirse con sus compañeros de la Universidad de Harvard el verano pasado para planificar la graduación anual de estudiantes negros organizada por un grupo del campus que ella dirige. La ceremonia iba a ser una celebración de la cultura negra, con músicos, recitales de poesía, mensajes sobre la lucha histórica por la igualdad racial y un discurso de Nikole Hannah-Jones, creadora del “Proje…
By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN Elyse Martin-Smith began meeting with her classmates at Harvard University last summer to plan the annual graduation for Black students organized by a campus group she leads. The ceremony was to be a celebration of Black culture, featuring musicians, poetry readings, messages about the historic struggle for racial equality, and a speech by Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, Martin-Smith explained. Stude…
Colleges are canceling affinity graduations due to anti-DEI policies. Here is how students are preserving the traditions
Universities across the country have canceled and withdrawn support for affinity graduations due to threats from President Donald Trump if they do not end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
Perfect Love: Lavender Ceremonies in the Age of Trump
Colleges and universities around the country are in full celebratory mode as they navigate graduation season. My social media timelines are full of friends sharing cap and gown pictures of their children and themselves, celebrating various milestones in their lives. Some schools have chosen to keep a graduation ceremony that I’d never heard of before: a Lavender Ceremony. It honors the LGBTQ+ students graduating from college. The first Lavender …
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