Office of Multicultural Learning Plans to Celebrate Diversity of the Class of 2023

Students of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community will be celebrated throughout finals week

Beginning on June 11, the Office of Multicultural Learning (OML) and the Rainbow Resource Center (RRC) will host the annual Multicultural Recognition Ceremonies. The six days following will each have receptions to acknowledge the achievements of students who identify as multicultural or as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

According to Student Inclusion Educator Naomi Yang, these ceremonies are a long-standing tradition at Santa Clara.

“This has always been an effort on the part of the OML and RRC,” said Yang. “Even during the pandemic, we put on these events completely over Zoom. We had an online ceremony and a lot of people turned out to the event, because it's a great opportunity for students and their family and loved ones to get together at the end of the year.”

It is the office’s mission to celebrate, contemplate and commit to diversity on Santa Clara’s campus. They work within the context of the university’s Jesuit values to promote the education of the whole person and advocacy for underrepresented communities.

“The main goal of our office is to be a space for students and to be able to offer resources and guidance to faculty, students or just anyone who needs it,” Yang said. “We hope to continue to do so in the future with the Multicultural Recognition Ceremonies and all our other events, programming and newsletters in order to really honor the diversity that Santa Clara has.”

The ceremonies are a part of the “celebrate” aspect of the Office of Multicultural Learning’s guiding principles. Participants in the ceremonies will receive a stole that reflects the identity group they are a part of. A personal statement reflecting the student's Santa Clara experience will be read as they are presented with their sashes.

“The ceremonies are a way of honoring heritage and culture as well as these marginalized identities here at Santa Clara,” said Yang. “I think they do a really great job of doing so because these events provide a sense of community for marginalized students who may have experienced certain adversities or culture shock at institutions such as Santa Clara. The whole idea is that they provide a sense of community and acknowledgment to validate students for their lived experiences.”

The six different ceremonies include the Lavender Graduation for LGBTQ+ students and recognition ceremonies for the Latinx; Native American; Middle Eastern and North African; Black/Pan African and Asian Pacific Islander South Asian communities. Students identifying as a member of multiple identity groups were encouraged to register for multiple events so that all parts of their identities could be recognized.

“Most of the format between ceremonies is quite similar,” said Yang. “You'll have entertainment, a faculty or staff keynote address about the celebration and there will also be a keynote address from all the recipients of the Student Leadership Award. There's food, there's music and people stay as long as they need or want to. We try to make the ceremonies as culturally competent and as culturally relevant as possible.”

The Student Leadership Awards recognize a member of each identity group who displays excellent student involvement and leadership skills both on and off campus. During the nomination process, students and faculty were able to acknowledge graduating seniors who demonstrated leadership skills and a commitment to a culture of care.

These smaller ceremonies offer an opportunity for marginalized students to be recognized for their academic accomplishments in a more personal setting. They will also be encouraged to wear their cultural stoles during the official graduation ceremony to individualize their commencement experience and pay homage to their unique heritage.

“For some students, this is the way to be recognized for staying at the school,” said Yang. “For friends and families, this is an opportunity to have a close sentimental moment to congratulate their loved ones and it makes this whole cultural ceremony experience a lot more meaningful and a lot more personal. The ceremonies are a fun place for students of marginalized identities to feel like they really have a community here and to really feel like their voices are being amplified.”