In an article for the Washington Times, Sean Salai discusses the increase in the number of “segregated” college-graduation ceremonies, also referred to as “affinity graduations,” held for students from various identity groups.
Events include UCLA’s “Pilipinx” graduation ceremony for Filipino students, the University of Oklahoma’s “Lavender” ceremony for LGBTQ students, and Illinois State University’s four “MAPS” ceremonies, for Middle Eastern, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Southeast Asian students. Harvard will hold a graduation for first-generation college students, and Columbia for low-income students.
Inside Higher Ed notes that some affinity graduations date back to the 1970s; others have been added to university end-of-year schedules in recent years.
Administrators defending the practice state that identity groups may not be “reflected in [the] sea” of thousands of students at a schoolwide commencement ceremony but can see “many reflections of themselves” at an affinity graduation and that “culturally specific” graduations feel “like a hug [and] like, ‘Welcome Home.’”
Opponents, on the other hand, note that affinity graduations “construct artificial binaries to divide students into ‘us’ and ‘them,’” shifting colleges away from pluralism and toward a culture of insularity.
Do these events represent pre-existing cultural celebration or grievance-based cultural construction? It’s true that “affinity groups” of varying kinds have existed for decades, and that different identity groups may have different cultural interests. But when the basis of said groups’ coming together is that they feel like outsiders at their own institutions, oppressed by the majority of their peers through a lack of cultural recognition, the solution of affinity graduations becomes less appealing. Why can’t Middle Eastern students like myself, for instance, show up at a schoolwide graduation and celebrate the most relevant experience we share with our peers in that moment — going through college together? And if we really hoped to celebrate our culture on campus, why not embrace the classic hospitality of Middle Easterners by hosting a cultural event to share with the rest of the student body?
Affinity graduations today tell a lie that college students (and people in general) are more different than we are similar. The fact is, neither identity nor victimhood is a cultural accomplishment.