NYU invited graduating students to its new identity-based celebrations, which will function nearly identically to the affinity graduations that administrators suspended in February. 

The university launched a page on its University Life website with the dates and times of “Community End-of-Year Celebrations” representing 16 different identity groups — including Black, LGBTQ+ and commuter students — hosted in collaboration with student-led affinity organizations. The new ceremonies, where graduates will be allowed to walk the stage, will take place between April 17 and May 13, ahead of the all-university commencement on May 14.

The page includes links for students to RSVP and specifies that each ceremony will be “open to students of all identities who are interested in celebrating together” until the event reaches capacity.

“We look forward to partnering with students on these memorable and inclusive events, and coming together as a community to celebrate our graduates,” NYU spokesperson Joseph Tirella wrote in a Thursday statement to WSN.

Rory Meyers senior Sariah Vaioleti, the president of NYU’s Native American and Indigenous Student Group, told WSN in a statement that the ceremony “will continue as it has in the past.”

“NAISG and Native graduates are working with our respective admin team to create another beautiful public celebration,” Vaioleti wrote. “The university continues to be silent after the quiet reinstatement of ceremonies under a different name, with no public recognition of the student advocacy that pressured NYU’s reinstatement.”

In a Feb. 20 meeting with students, Student Life administrators canceled 13 affinity graduation ceremonies, citing the “current political climate.” Days later, students launched an Instagram campaign to restore the tradition titled “Our Stories, Our Stage” and circulated a petition that garnered over 1,000 signatures. NYU announced its new “End-of-Year Student Life Celebrations” on March 11 after holding further discussions with student groups.

Silver junior Raea Lovett, who proposed a resolution to reinstate affinity graduations in the Student Government Assembly, told WSN that while the new events are a positive step, she is disappointed NYU will not call them affinity graduations “to appease the federal government.”

“Nothing about the manner of these celebrations is changing. That is a hard-won thing — not just on the part of student government, but by student organizers with ‘Our Stories, Our Stage,’ by students reaching out, by alumni,” Lovett said. “I wish the university didn’t have to hide behind language before it advocates for its students.”

Contact Zachary Karp at [email protected].