Many Oberlin seniors choose not to wear caps and gowns during their Commencement ceremony; this year, however, some will have a reason to wear their tassels with pride.
The Oberlin Lambda Alumni Association and the Multicultural Resource Center's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender coordinator are teaming up to organize the College's first annual Lavender Graduation, to be held the Saturday before Commencement.
LGBT students who sign up to participate in the ceremony will receive a rainbow tassel, an Oberlin Lambda Alumni t-shirt, and a scroll welcoming them into the OLA. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the College's annual OLA colloquium, in which Oberlin Lambda Alumni members return to Oberlin to host events and speak to the new group of inductees.
LGBT coordinator Angela Nichols said she got the idea for the Lavender Graduation from a colleague who organized a similar ceremony at both the University of Michigan and the University of California in Los Angeles.
"This is a special thing that's kind of spreading, mostly among colleges and universities with a large LGBT population. I hope it becomes a part of Oberlin's future, as a way to honor LGBT/queer students and their contributions to the college," Nichols said.
While only three Oberlin students have signed up to participate in the graduation so far, Nichols said she has high hopes for the outcome of the ceremony. "I think it will be fabulous if there's five people, and it will be fabulous if there's 50," she said.
Nichols said parents and allies are invited to attend the graduation, as well. Tassels, T-shirts and scrolls will be paid for by the MRC and possibly by the OLA.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 14, February 19, 1998
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