<div>In an effort to celebrate &#8220;black excellence and black brilliance,&#8221; Harvard University will be segregating it&#8217;s graduation ceremonies this year.</div>
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<div>&ldquo;Aside from studying and taking grueling tests, if you&rsquo;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&rsquo;s the first of its kind at the school in recent memory and took nearly a year to plan,&rdquo; writes BET. &ldquo;The separate graduation is an effort to highlight the aforementioned struggles and resilience it takes to get through those.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>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. ;</div>
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<div>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. ;</div>
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<div>&ldquo;This is an opportunity to celebrate Harvard&rsquo;s black excellence and black brilliance,&rdquo; said Michael Huggins, who is graduating with a masters from Harvard Kennedy School. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an event where we can see each other and our parents and family can see us as a collective, whole group. A community.&#8221;</div>
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<div>This group is also invited to attend the formal graduation with all the rest of students.</div>
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<div>Higgins ironically says that the separate, additional ceremony has nothing to do with segregation.</div>
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<div>&ldquo;This is not about segregation,&rdquo; said Huggins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;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.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>BET reports that the ceremony is needed because African American students experience additional struggles.</div>
<div>&#8220;Aside from studying and taking grueling tests, if you&rsquo;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&rsquo;s the first of its kind at the school in recent memory and took nearly a year to plan,&#8221; writes BET. ;</div>
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<div>Harvard isn&#8217;t the only university offering segregated graduations either. Columbia, Temple and Stanford also have ceremonies strictly for Black students. ;</div>
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<div><strong>Author&#8217;s note:</strong> It&#8217;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. ;</div>