ALLENDALE, Mich. — Recently, Grand Valley State University sent out an email to graduating students about graduation celebrations, highlighting the school’s diversity. It listed celebrations honoring the Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native, and LGBTQ+ communities at GVSU.
“I’d say that they’re open to everyone. These, not just these ceremonies but also the clubs, just anything that these groups of color do, it’s really for anyone to come. All are welcomed,” said Ethan Carino, a senior studying public and nonprofit administration. He's also a part of the Filipino-American Student Association. “It’s Asian or Black or Hispanic focused but it’s not exclusive. So, I’d encourage people to learn more and to think about it from more of an of-color or minority perspective.”
However, since the email went out it’s gained some national attention. Some media outlets and people have deemed it to be controversial and problematic.
“There’s a lot of controversy. There’s a lot of misinformation, a lot of things going on. Personally, I think it’s good that we have these specialty graduation ceremonies for minority students,” Carino said. “GV’s a great place but it is a predominantly white institution. So, it can be a little bit hard at times for minority students.”
@GVSU recently sent an email to certain graduating students, highlighting the schools graduation celebrations & diversity.
— Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) March 23, 2023
It’s since gained national attention.
Some called it controversial.
Some support the celebrations.@FOX17 went on campus to get students perspective. pic.twitter.com/dVh1EX9oNW
Sophomore Arieanna Johnson agreed. She’s studying psychology, and said she supported the celebrations and will attend them when she’s ready to graduate.
“I feel like it’s a good thing that as a PWI Grand Valley is trying to like do things for the minority students to make them feel OK,” said Johnson, a Detroit native. “I feel like since everyone is graduating together, the separate celebrations isn’t really like a bad thing. It’s more of a good thing. I don’t know why there’s so much controversy about it honestly.”
Fox 17 asked a number of students and organizations on campus and via email for interviews. Some declined and said it’s due to the backlash the school was receiving.
However, some students said they’re against the celebrations.
“Graduation is supposed to be a community experience. If it means for you and your community to be able to, if you’re LGBT and you say ‘Oh I just want to graduate with LGBT people,’ that’s fine. But, I don’t want that to subtract away from the regular graduation ceremony,” said Andrew Zoncas, a senior studying IT. “A graduation ceremony is when we all come together and say ‘Hey, we all just graduated college. We just did it.’ But if you just attend the LGBT graduation it makes me wonder why just attend that.”
Zoncas said having individualized celebrations may detract from the big graduation, which is scheduled for Friday April 28 at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.
“If you have it like so individualized it can start taking away from one another,” Zoncas said. “I think our common experience here is that we’re all Grand Valley Lakers.”
FOX 17 reached out to GVSU for an interview. They declined but provided this statement:
“Grand Valley holds unified Commencement ceremonies for all of its graduates. GVSU is not “segregating graduation ceremonies by race,” as some people and outlets have alleged. We also do not have “specialty graduations,” but some groups do have special graduation celebrations to celebrate members who will be graduating.
“Grand Valley welcomes student organizations and faculty leaders to hold these smaller scale celebrations. These more intimate celebrations are a complement to GVSU’s Commencement and are open to all students and their supporters.
“The vast majority of graduating students who participate in these celebrations also choose to participate in our larger Commencement ceremony at Van Andel Arena where degrees are conferred. Commencement is a university celebration where all faculty staff and students come together. GVSU is also proud to support celebrations leading up to Commencement based on how students identify and how they chose to engage with the university.
“Our Lavender celebration for LGBTQIA+ students is among our longest running celebrations. It has been happening since 2007.”
