Special Graduation Events for Non-Whites & Alphabet Groups Are Coming Back To University of Texas Austin
Jose Nino
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Special graduation celebrations for black, Hispanics, Asian, and LGBTQIA+ students are coming back this spring at the University of Texas at Austin. According to Scott Giebel of The College Fix, an alumni group has taken it upon itself to organize the events, which effectively resurrected these events after they were previously shelved.
The UT alumni organization Texas Exes recently announced plans to hold the graduation events in May after university officials canceled these cultural graduation ceremonies as a response to a new law that clamped down on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public universities statewide.
Texas Exes spokesperson Dorothy Guerrero said to The College Fix on February 13, 2024 that they are organizing the following four events: Lavender Graduation for LGBTQIA+ students, GraduAsian, Latinx Graduation, and Black Graduation at the UT Austin Alumni Center.
Guerrero revealed that their plans are still being hashed out, but the format of the events will be different from what the university used to carry out. She stated each event will function as a “come-and-go” celebration for graduates and their guests as opposed to a traditional graduation ceremony.
“The Texas Exes looks forward to celebrating our 2024 graduates and welcoming them to the Alumni Center and the next chapter of their lives,” Guerrero said to The Fix. “Through these celebrations, we will help new grads get plugged into our Networks, which work year-round to support students and alumni around the world.”
Back in January, UT Austin announced it will stop funding its cultural graduation ceremonies, per a report by The Daily Texan. This development came after its Multicultural Engagement Center, which was tasked with organizing the events, shut down in January in response to Senate Bill 17.
The new law went into effect on January 1. It bans DEI offices on public college and university campuses and gets rid of “all activities that discriminate against students based on their race, ethnicity, or gender,” per a statement from State Senator Brandon Creighton, the main sponsor of the bill.
Exceptions include “academic course instruction,” “research or creative works by an institution of higher education’s students or faculty,” and activities by student organizations.
When the bill was passed in June, Creighton said the changes will ensure Texas “campuses return to focusing on the strength of diversity and promoting a merit-based approach where individuals are judged on their qualifications, skills, and contributions.”
Several public and private universities hold these ceremonies, which includes several University of Texas system schools.
UT Arlington has held graduation ceremonies for Blacks, Hispanic, and Asian American Native American Pacific Island students over the last few years, in addition to a Lavender Graduation for LGBTQ+ students.
Such events show how identity focused universities have become. White students should respond in kind with their own functions that take pride in European civilization’s many accomplishments. Whites have every right to organize in a peaceful manner and assert their interests.
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