After months of planning, Illinois State University will be hosting its inaugural Lavender Graduation next Wednesday in the Prairie Room.
The ceremony is a safe space for students to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied students completing their degrees with full support of friends, families, faculty and staff.
“This is an ISU initiative and we want this to be institutionalized in a way where it is just expected every year,” Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students Art Munin said.
The Lavender Graduation made its first spoken announcement during the MBLGTACC conference earlier in the semester and has since received massive support.
“It has been so great to have such buy-in from the community. It’s really so meaningful,” Munin said.
Unlike many other events on ISU’s campus, Lavender Graduation is an initiative brought on collaboratively by both students and staff.
“It’s kind of rare, it doesn’t happen often that you see an institution want to bring something. It’s usually students,” PRIDE Public Relations Chair Joshua Travis said.
“That’s what makes this so fun and so interesting and so exciting. It is coming from us. It is coming from what we want out for the university students.”
Members of the Lavender Graduation committee hope to show their collaborative efforts of both staff and students putting on this initiative.
“It was really important to have that student voice at the table to have this not be a staff initiative or faculty initiative. This is a student initiative and we’re supporting them,” Munin said.
During the event, a keynote speaker, ISU President Larry Dietz and Munin will also give a few words of encouragement hoping to reach out to both the graduates and others supporting.
“The very important side benefit to this is for that freshman student who hasn’t come out yet and is wondering their place. Hopefully they hear about this activity and receive another message that they belong at ISU,” Munin said.
“I think that there are groups on campus that are underrepresented […] so when you get this opportunity to celebrate this accomplishment, you just magnify it. That’s what is beautiful about this graduation ceremony,” Travis said.
“This is really an opportunity for the university to say we recognize that this is not an easy task for you […] so we’re going to acknowledge that and you should acknowledge that as well.”
The event starts at 6 p.m. and is open to all graduating students who “recognize the importance of celebration.”
Over 25 participants are expected to celebrate their achievements.
Lavender Graduation is co-sponsored by the President’s Office, Diversity Advocacy, PRIDE and Women and Gender Studies.
For further information, contact the Lavender Graduation Committee at ISULavenderGraduation@gmail.com or visit the committee’s Facebook page.
