From Inside Higher Ed: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has banned university-funded “identity-based Graduation Achievement Ceremonies,” the institution announced on its website... “The decision aligns with guidance from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which states that federal civil rights law prohibits using race in decisions related to graduation ceremonies and cautions that such practices may be perceived as segregation,” the university said in its announcement. But it’s unclear what guidance it was referencing.
A year ago, the Office for Civil Rights told universities that identity-based graduations were illegal. “In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies,” the office wrote in a Dear Colleague letter. Some universities canceled similar ceremonies. But, last April, a federal judge blocked the department from enforcing that guidance and, on Jan. 21—five days before Virginia Tech’s statement—the department gave up defending it...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/12/virginia-tech-bans-university-funded-affinity-graduations.
No comments:
Post a Comment