NYU canceled 13 culture, identity and faith-based graduation ceremonies due to the “current political climate,” according to student groups that are urging administrators to either rescind the order or better explain their reasoning. 

Club organizers learned that affinity celebrations — where graduating students hold separate ceremonies honoring their historically underrepresented backgrounds — would no longer be permitted at a Friday afternoon meeting with Student Life representatives. The administrators instead proposed a single celebration at the Paulson Center, which would combine aspects of each club’s culture or tradition.

“There can’t be stoles or alumni speakers — all of these things that would typically be part of a graduation can’t be a part of that end-of-year celebration,” a member of the affected LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told WSN. “To me, that’s a pretty startling restriction of student speech.” 

NYU did not respond to requests for comment.

Screenshots of a group chat, in which members of several identity-based student clubs discussed the restrictions, circulated social media on Saturday. The next day, student leaders created an Instagram account to condemn the cancellation, citing lack of legal precedence, in a post that garnered over 1,400 likes. 

The group said in a Monday statement that when students asked why the ceremonies were canceled, administrators only cited the “current political climate” without elaborating. It added that affinity graduations are “indispensable” to student’s identities, and urged students, alumni and faculty to sign a Google Form petition demanding the university reverse its decision. Affinity club members were also encouraged to “vent” and share stories about their experiences in affinity groups.

For many NYU students, affinity convocations are graduates’ only opportunity to walk, given that several schools — including College of Arts & Sciences, Tisch School of the Arts and Tandon School of Engineering — do not invite students to the stage at graduation ceremonies. 

Student leaders of the impacted clubs, which include Black, first-generation and international affinity groups, are planning contingencies, such as gathering donations. While larger student organizations such as LUCHA, NYU’s Latinx club, typically receive an annual budget from the university, others rely on donations for their annual ceremony. Student leaders noted that administrators told them they can no longer fundraise under their club name, limiting their ability to host any event independently. 

“I found it honestly disturbing — like they kind of told us, ‘You guys are students that we’ve built a relationship with over time, so we trust you guys to understand where we’re coming from and be able to relay this information to your groups,” a member of the Latinx club, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told WSN. “It kind of felt like we were being asked to be firefighters for them in a way, to put out the flames of people and their anger.”

Virginia Polytechnic Institute banned affinity graduations last month to align with a U.S. Department of Education order prohibiting “segregated” ceremonies. Last year, Harvard University similarly canceled these events after the Trump administration threatened to cut its research funding. An NYU school barred graduates from wearing “decorated” attire after the university’s own ceremonies saw several small pro-Palestinian protests the year prior. Last week, NYU also promised to review its diversity programs as part of an agreement with the Education Department. 

“Honestly, it just felt like a big bureaucratic slap to the face,” the Latinx club member said. “It was like nothing ever really gets done and the decision from the higher-ups is the ultimate goal in the end — like our voices don’t matter, and we feel like we’ve been diminished to opinions.”

Contact Natalie Deoragh at [email protected].