In an effort to celebrate “black excellence and black brilliance,” Harvard University will be segregating it’s graduation ceremonies this year.
“Aside from studying and taking grueling tests, if you’re a minority, the outer pressures of society make the already challenging coursework even more difficult. Knowing this, Black members of the class of 2017 decided to form an individual ceremony. It’s the first of its kind at the school in recent memory and took nearly a year to plan,” writes BET. “The separate graduation is an effort to highlight the aforementioned struggles and resilience it takes to get through those.”
120 students have registered to be part of the ceremony, where students raised over $27,000 to pay for it and the reception following it. Over 500 are expected to be in attendance on May 23.
Currently, the Ivy League university is only offering this separate ceremony for graduate students, however it plans to organize a similar ceremony for African-American undergraduate students.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate Harvard’s black excellence and black brilliance,” said Michael Huggins, who is graduating with a masters from Harvard Kennedy School. “It’s an event where we can see each other and our parents and family can see us as a collective, whole group. A community.”
This group is also invited to attend the formal graduation with all the rest of students.
Higgins ironically says that the separate, additional ceremony has nothing to do with segregation.
“This is not about segregation,” said Huggins.“It’s about fellowship and building a community. This is a chance to reaffirm for each other that we enter the work world with a network of supporters standing with us. We are all partners.”
BET reports that the ceremony is needed because African American students experience additional struggles.
“Aside from studying and taking grueling tests, if you’re a minority, the outer pressures of society make the already challenging coursework even more difficult. Knowing this, Black members of the class of 2017 decided to form an individual ceremony. It’s the first of its kind at the school in recent memory and took nearly a year to plan,” writes BET.
Harvard isn’t the only university offering segregated graduations either. Columbia, Temple and Stanford also have ceremonies strictly for Black students.
Author’s note: It’s ridiculous to think that segregation is now being encouraged from the Black community. Why is it politically correct to have a black only graduation ceremony? Are these universities so divided and racist that this is now an option? Apparently, segregation is an progressive and enlightened policy.