Columbia University Accused of Segregation following Announcement of Six 'Multicultural Graduation Celebrations'

Milton Quintanilla | Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | Updated: Mar 22, 2021
Columbia University Accused of Segregation following Announcement of Six 'Multicultural Graduation Celebrations'

Columbia University Accused of Segregation following Announcement of Six 'Multicultural Graduation Celebrations'

One of the top universities in the world is reportedly planning to host several graduation ceremonies based on ethnicity, income, and sexual orientation.

Students at New York’s Columbia University are being given the option of taking part in one of six “Multicultural Graduation Celebrations” that will take place in the last week of April.

The six ceremonies listed on the schools’ website are as follows:

  1. “Native Graduation Celebration” for Native-American students (April 25)
  2. “Lavender Graduation Celebration” for students identifying in the LGBTIA+ community (April 26)
  3. “Asian Graduation Celebration” (April 27)
  4. “FLI Graduation” for “first-generation and/or low-income community” (April 27)
  5. “Latinx Graduation Celebration” (April 29)
  6. “Black Graduation Celebration” (April 30)

According to CBN News, Columbia University’s effort was condemned by Mercy Muroki, the senior researcher for The Centre for Social Justice, asserting that the school is “going backwards”.

“Racially and sexually segregated graduation ceremonies. One of the 'best' universities in the world. 2021,” she tweeted on Mar. 6. “If you want to know what going backwards looks like, this is it.”

“The cheek of calling them 'Multicultural Graduation Ceremonies' when they are literally based on singular 'cultures',” she added.

Meanwhile, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark) suggested that the ceremonies were a larger indicator of Critical Race Theory “being pushed on our kids at school.”

“The problem is not just one ‘woke’ university embracing discrimination,” he wrote.

“Critical race theory is being pushed on our kids at school, it's peddled by HR departments at corporations, and the Biden administration has embraced it under the guise of "racial equity."

A spokesperson for Columbia University told Forbes in a statement that “the smaller celebratory events held for particular groups are in addition to, not instead of, the university- and class-wide graduation ceremonies.”

“The gatherings are voluntary, open to every student who wants to participate, and have become a highly anticipated and meaningful part of the Columbia graduation experience,” the spokesperson continued.

Columbia University likewise issued a similar statement on the multicultural graduation ceremonies last week.

It is worth noting that the New York-based university is not the only school promoting graduation ceremonies based on skin color.

In 2019, the Washington Examiner reported that the National Association of Scholars identified 76 schools that offered segregated ceremonies which, like Columbia University, were supplemental to the schools' regular graduation ceremonies and were nonmandatory.

Notable schools present on the list included Harvard, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Arizona State, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Yale. The ceremonies were hosted by black student groups, campus resource centers, or specific academic departments.

Photo courtesy: Jane Carmona/Unsplash


Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.



Columbia University Accused of Segregation following Announcement of Six 'Multicultural Graduation Celebrations'