U. Texas at Austin Stops Funding Cultural Graduation Ceremonies
“Public relations sophomore Vashéd Thompson said Black Graduation was a reason she chose to attend the University.”
Some students at the school are apparently upset about this news.
The Daily Texan reports:
UT announces it will no longer fund cultural graduation ceremonies
The University will no longer fund cultural graduation ceremonies, according to an email sent on Tuesday by Brandelyn Flunder, director of the Center for Leadership and Learning.
The Multicultural Engagement Center, which closed earlier this month to comply with Senate Bill 17, previously put on Black Graduation, Latinx Graduation and GraduAsian. The MEC’s closure will also impact welcome programs including the CultivAsian, Bloq Party, New Black Student Weekend, Adelante, Four Directions, and Leadership Institutes. Flunder said in a second email on Tuesday that the MEC is “working diligently to find an alternative home” for the graduations.
“Because you have been able to come into the space and see many of the staff, I understand that it likely feels that we are operating at status quo, but please make no mistake, while our doors remain open (for now, at least), our programs do not,” Flunder said in the first email.
The University did not provide additional comment by the time of publication.
Government sophomore Erin McCormick said she’s always tried to connect with people who looked like her, being one of few Black people in her area. When she transferred to UT-Austin, McCormick said she looked forward to Black Graduation.
“Of course, everyone would attend regular graduation, but Black Graduation elevates the accomplishment that much more, given the history of the University and Texas in general,” McCormick said.
Public relations sophomore Vashéd Thompson said Black Graduation was a reason she chose to attend the University. She said even if students decided to put on the graduations, the lack of University recognition would make the events seem less “official.”
“That’s already disheartening when you’re not feeling supported by the university that you go to, when you’re not feeling congratulated and like they’re proud of you, when you spend four years and thousands and thousands of dollars to attend the school,” Thompson said. “(It) feels like a stab in the back.”
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Comments
Cultural graduation ceremonies = segregated graduation ceremonies.
First, they demanded integration, now they want segregation. I really wish these people would make up their minds.
As it is, if some of them choose to separate themselves from the actual graduation ceremony, I have no objection to it. Something tells me that most of the Asian students that are there taking real majors will attend the real graduation ceremony and skip this nonsense.
I’d like to think that at least some of the Hispanics will do it and maybe two or three of the blacks will go to the real graduation ceremony.
As for the rest of them, let them have what they want and let them segregate themselves. They’re probably not the type of people I want around being the first place.
“ they demanded integration,” and “ they want segregation” and “these people” and “the blacks”. Boy, you can take the bear out of the woods, but you can’t take the cracker out of the Grizzly.
Wake up fella, it’s 2024. “They” are humans. Perhaps you are not advanced enough to understand.
“Cracker?”
I think you just made Grizzly’s point.
Segregation and discrimination based on skin color is immature, stupid and wrong.
Deflecting is a juvenile technique.
Okay, you’ve besmirched his character. Now try answering his argument, you sophisticated liberal, you.
Nah, ya gotta have a reputation for it to to be besmirched. Cracker.
We’re all human, but at less than 39% of the student population at UT Austin, whites are merely the largest minority group. They have only the fourth highest graduation rate. Have a Whites Only Graduation? Out of the question.
So, give me a list of the words you pants-,wetting grovelers prefer.
“Public relations sophomore Vashéd Thompson said Black Graduation was a reason she chose to attend the University.”
Howard isn’t getting rid of theirs.
THAT is a reason for attending a university? This is the first time I have ever heard of a university’s commencement ceremony or ceremonies being a reason for choosing to attend it.
Some people want to attend a party school. Others want to attend a grad school.
:-{)}}}
I question whether “they” really want segregated graduation ceremonies. I can understand receptions by indivdual schools or departments. I can understand a meal with your family and other invited guests.
Most students are very proud of getting through college together with all of their classmates, and commencement ceremonies are a unifying event.
I suspect this trend was started by DEI staff who wanted to hold the spotlight at the podium instead of letting the President and honorary degree holder get all of the attention.
Instead, a graduating student must sit in yet another crowd to be congratulated by the Assistant Dean of Black Student Empowerment or the Assistant Dean of Asian American Empowerment.
At year end, the dean will be asked about job achievements for the past year. Instead of saying “I prevented X students from dropping out,” he will write “I planned and executed the Black Student Graduation complete with my carefully worded commencement speech.”
Racists
“The University will no longer fund cultural graduation ceremonies, according to an email sent on Tuesday by Brandelyn Flunder, director of the Center for Leadership and Learning.”
“The Center for Leadership and Learning” sounds like low-hanging fruit when you’re looking to eliminate waste. What else is a university but a center for leadership and learning? Why should it fund a separate bureaucracy?
Oh, and Brandelyn Flunder? Is that a real name? It sounds positively Dickensian.
IOW, “I’m upset that I don’t get an extra-special ‘Thank-you’ from this University due solely to the color of my skin!”
They want to be left alone, but will not leave the rest of us alone.
The university is a vendor and the student is a customer. Why should the vendor be more proud of one customer than another? No matter who the graduate is, the university will celebrate the transaction all the way to the bank. And thanks to the great financing deals that go by the euphemism of “financial aid,” the university got their money up front, not only long before graduation, but regardless of whether there is a graduation at all. It’s all flim-flam.