This year, graduation season may look different at Harvard University. This week, the Ivy League institution announced that the university will no longer host or fund affinity group celebrations during commencement weekend in light of the U.S. Department of Education’s attack on DEI.
In an email sent to student affinity groups on Monday afternoon, the university stated that these groups would no longer receive “funding, staffing, or spaces for affinity celebrations.”
“Harvard remains committed to building a community where individuals who bring a broad array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives come together to learn, grow, and thrive, and equally committed to complying with the law,” University spokesperson Jason A. Newton said, per The Harvard Crimson.
The email continued, “We stand ready to address questions or concerns you may have during this transition.”
Harvard was one of many schools that received threats to its federal funding from the US Department of Education if it did not comply with the Trump administration’s mandates to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. After Harvard University President Alan M. Garber revealed the university’s refusal to comply with Trump’s demands, the Ivy League continued to face threats of a multibillion-dollar funding freeze from the U.S. Department of Education.
During its 2024 commencement, Harvard reportedly hosted 10 affinity celebrations for Arab, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, first-generation, low-income, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Desi graduates. In response to this news, Harvard’s Black Alumni Society has launched an emergency fundraising campaign of $50,000 to fund the 2025 Black graduation celebration.
“This is unfortunate news, but HBAS will continue to focus its energy and resources on safeguarding the Black student experience,” the organization said in an email to alumni. “Your contribution, no matter the size, will directly empower current students and ensure these vital aspects of their Harvard journey remain intact.”
As universities try to push back against these mandates to dismantle DEI, the NAACP has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education for its anti-DEI orders. Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, described the department’s orders as a “gross distortion of reality that attempts to erase the lived experiences of millions of Black and Brown children in this country.”
“The Department of Education, tasked with a responsibility to protect the civil rights of all children, has instead claimed systemic racism doesn’t exist — effectively sanctioning the very discrimination that our civil rights laws were designed to prevent,” Johnson added “Meanwhile, children of color consistently attend segregated, chronically underfunded schools where they receive less educational opportunities and more discipline. Denying these truths doesn’t make them disappear — it deepens the harm. We are asking the court to act swiftly [on] our request and will continue to advocate for students of color to be treated fairly and equitably.”
