CU Boulder joins universities choosing to hold race-based graduation events
CU Boulder is partnering with student and alumni organizations to hold special commencement ceremonies for graduating seniors who belong to 'affinity and special interest' groups.
White, Christian, and Jewish students will not be receiving special graduation events.
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is partnering with student and alumni organizations to hold special commencement ceremonies for graduating seniors who belong to “affinity and special interest” groups.
White, Christian, and Jewish students will not be receiving special graduation events. Among the groups that will be individually celebrated by CU Boulder are Black students, “Latinx” students, American Indians, Asians, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Notably, the university appears to be snubbing first-generation college graduates.
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Last year, Campus Reform reported that dozens of universities held segregated graduation events, selectively celebrating different minority groups.
In 2021, Columbia University faced backlash for hosting graduation events designated for select identity groups. Senator Tom Cotton (R., AR) responded to the controversy by stating the separate graduations represented “segregation” which he said is “the endpoint of critical race theory.”
To put on these events CU Boulder is partnering with alumni groups that provide money to individuals who share their identity on campus. Forever Buffs Latinx, one group working with the university, boasts about “[raising] thousands of dollars for Latinx students who are attending the university,” giving $40,000 in scholarships this semester and over $900,000 since the organization was founded.
Forever Buffs LGBTQ+, a similar group, also hands out identity-specific scholarships, “provid[ing] support for an annual scholarship to LGBTQ and allied students who maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average at the University of Colorado Boulder.”
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The Center for African & African American Studies, which is collaborating with the university to hold a Black graduation ceremony, describes its purposes as “promot[ing] the production and dissemination of knowledge, personal and professional development, mentorship, leadership training, and advocacy for social change and social justice.”
Campus Reform has contacted all relevant parties for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
