I have empathy for the students, but this is a very bad idea. I was surprised to learn that a segregated ceremony has been going on at the likes of Stanford and Columbia for a while now. I don’t like it because it presumes emotional fragility on the part of the black students. Also, they are part of the university community and they should insist on being integral to that community; reject segregation now!
It is a couple days before the campus wide ceremony. Is there any reason they can’t attend both?
As I understand it, it’s just an extra event, not a substitute for commencement. I’m Catholic. Both my alma mater and my kid’s have a commencement mass which is a special event including parents. The Hillels also have a graduation event for Jewish families. How is this different?
My favorite college memory by far was my Chabad graduation event. We had a wine and cheese cocktail hour and then at Shabbat dinner, the graduating seniors each got to make a speech about how much the Chabad community has meant to them throughout their college years and how they’re going to go out into the world as a Jew. Lots of crying and clapping. There were speeches from the rabbis and religious leaders on campus tailored to us. It was incredibly meaningful, not at all the same as the more impersonal campus commencement ceremony where I was one of thousands. It didn’t replace commencement, it was just a time for us to celebrate our community on campus and the impact its had on us. When I was long distance from my boyfriend because I graduated early, I took a trip up for his Chabad graduation rather than the whole-campus commencement ceremony. It was way more special to be with our closest friends, have a final dinner with the community, and get a chance to make a personalized speech.
Hmm, it is different because Catholics and Jews can be any color.
This happens all the time, often for example a particular program will have a graduation event and then the kids are part of the broader one as well, separate graduation events go on all the time. With the Harvard event it is the same thing, it is before the main commencement designed for black students who are graduating and has its own focus, nothing wrong with that,the same way if a Jewish student group, an Italian students group, an LGBT group, etc decided to have an event. If the business school at NYU has their own graduation ceremony, or the music school, is that segregation?
It’s not a competing event, it’s just another event. They have something like this at Yale, too, at the Af-Am house. If it’s OK to have organizations for specific groups, it’s essentially by definition OK for them to have commencement events for their members.
Is it really (as the thread title says) “Blacks only?” I mean, is the ability to participate in the event limited by skin color? Could whites/Asians/Native Americans join/attend?
So, is it good to have separate celebrations for religious, ethnic, or cultural groups, but not good based just on skin color?–Like a separate White or European American celebration would not be good, but if it were a European cultural group that happens to be white like Irish or Polish heritage club, that would be OK?
hmm…what would happen if there were a white/Caucasian only event?
That’s like asking why there isn’t a Society of Men Engineers. They don’t really need one – they’re the majority.
This seems a bit beyond having a graduation party at your specific club or group but whatever. It is specifically intended to separate themselves from the general student body on the basis of their shared identity. They certainly can if they want but not sure why it merits a newspaper article even.
it is an opportunity to celebrate the success of the graduates who share similar cultures. I don’t see anything wrong with it, especially since it is open to everyone.
“But the ceremony is “not about segregation,” said Michael Huggins, president of the Harvard Black Graduate Student Alliance, which is organizing the event. Students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds may attend, he said, and the black students taking part in the ceremony also plan to attend the university’s official commencement on May 25 in Harvard Yard.”
That’s all that really matters.
This is not that big of a deal…many schools & colleges within a University will have separate ceremonies…and then they still attend the big one in the stadium/etc> i think it’s nice…it’s a much smaller group and a chance to toast the accomplishment together.
Meh. Black people also have an organization called the NAACP too. No news here.
Wondering if African American students share much more of a similar culture with other Americans of any color, than they do with students from Africa who also happen to be black? So the ceremony is for people who share a skin color?
Anyone may attend. But can graduates of any color “take part in the ceremony”–sit with the graduates being honored and be honored along with them?
(I think it is fine for any group/club/random collection of students to get together and celebrate each other if they want.)
"Wondering if African American students share much more of a similar culture with other Americans of any color, than they do with students from Africa who also happen to be black? "
I can tell you one thing they share - living in a world that discriminates against them on the regular based purely on the color of their skin. I bet that is certainly something to bond over!
Another chiming in to say this is old hat (in many places) and really shouldn’t be news.
I attended a Lavender (queer) graduation ceremony when I got my master’s. There were various graduation ceremonies for other student groups as well: African-American, Latinx, etc etc.
And to reiterate, it is NOT blacks only.
Snopes is your friend 
http://www.snopes.com/harvard-segregated-graduation/
Usually when people point out things like this, they are coming from the attitude of “why is it okay for blacks to segregate themselves but it isn’t okay for whites”, which deep down is trying to defend things present day or in the past , saying 'well, if they want to segregate, why can’t I?" (leaving out the reality of that segregation,of course, that the segregation white society had de jure or de facto, wasn’t an innocent celebration of ethnic or racial pride, but rather to keep others from having what they had).
Not to mention that it is a bit idiotic to have a ‘white pride’ kind of event, in the sense that what the heck does that mean, given how diverse that label is? It is one thing to have, for example,a Jewish commencement event, an Italian student association event, polish, russian, etc,there are specific cultural and ethnic traditions associated with those, and while all those groups are diverse (my experience as a first generation kid through my dad from Italy would be very different from a kid who is from Italy, a kid whose grandfather emigrated decades ago), the whole ‘white’ label is so diluted, what would it celebrate, pastrami on white bread with mayo? Would it celebrate Appalachian white culture, NE Brahmin/WASP culture, white suburbia stereotypes, what one white culture is there?
@musicprnt , Actually I am coming from the opposite perspective. I wish people did not feel the need to separate themselves along racial lines, and find self-segregation ironic when the battle call used to be “Don’t exclude me.” As a white, middle-aged privileged male in the South, I have worked to overcome the influences of my youth and try to see the world through color blind glasses. Stories like these, with sensational headlines, try to rip those glasses off.