Colleges are canceling affinity graduations amid DEI attacks but students are pressing on

With the school year coming to an end at American universities across the country, colleges are taking a step to avoid the ire of the Trump administration: canceling affinity graduations. These events are optional ceremonies meant to highlight the diversity of student bodies, but some universities are rethinking their plans to host them as the White House promotes an anti-DEI platform at colleges.

Despite this, many students on these campuses are fighting back against the administration's anti-DEI push. Harvard University has been in the spotlight the most, but other schools have also seen similar actions from students.

A widespread backtrack

The U.S. Department of Education began working to eliminate diversity programs after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion efforts) "radical and wasteful." Following this, a slew of universities decided to backtrack on hosting affinity graduations. Harvard has been the most notable college to do so, and will "no longer provide funding, staffing or spaces for end-of-year affinity celebrations," the university said in a statement.

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This marks a notable change for the Ivy League institution, as Harvard previously "hosted ten affinity celebrations for the Class of 2024, including for Arab, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, first-generation, low-income and Asian American, Pacific Islander and Desi graduates," said The Harvard Crimson. But Harvard is just one "among several universities across the country that have canceled affinity graduations," said CNN. The University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, the University of Notre Dame, Wichita State University and others have all canceled various affinity events.

Students left scrambling

Even with the White House's actions resulting in some affinity graduation cancellations, students at these schools are "scrambling to find ways to still host the events," said CNN. This includes many students and student-led groups that are creating their own diversity ceremonies.

At Harvard, members of the Harvard Black Alumni Society "raised $46,000 for this year's event after the university announced April 28 that it would no longer fund the ceremonies," said NBC News. Another canceled ceremony had been designed to highlight Harvard's LGBTQ+ students, so a "small group of students organized an independent event" instead. Harvard's Asian American Alumni Alliance was also able to host an "unforgettable affinity celebration honoring the Class of 2025" with 500 guests, the alliance said on Facebook.

At Ohio University, one student "arranged for his alma mater's Black alumni weekend to go forward this spring after the university canceled it," said The Associated Press. And other schools are pushing back against Trump by not stopping their events. This includes California State University, Long Beach, whose affinity graduations were "held as planned this semester," said the Long Beach Current. This included graduation ceremonies held for American Indian students, Cambodian students, Latino students, Pacific Islander students and others, according to the university's website.

As a result, some say affinity graduations are likely to continue in some form. The White House is "forcing students and faculty to think creatively beyond the university and work around it," said Antar Tichavakunda, a professor of race and higher education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to CNN. "I don't think this will be the end of culturally specific graduations. I just think it might be the end of universities supporting them."