Black Graduation misconceptions debunked
By: Ryane Jackson
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News
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In recent weeks, the Pine Log message board has been bombarded with questions of Black Graduation. Many of the questions on this event circulate around whether or not the ceremony is an attempt to racially segregate the graduating class.
"I would like to see a true newsworthy article on the whole 'black graduation' that goes on every graduation season. I want to know why that is ok and yet 'white graduation' would wind up with a lawsuit or worse. I also want to know why people have the option of participating in both, rather than one or the other. Why are black students allowed to be exclusionary and white students are not?"
The above quote was posted by an anonymous student on the Pine Log website. This is not an attempt to single any one individual out, but this seems to be the general consensus on this ceremony.
Black Graduation, which has been renamed the Black Congratulatory Ceremony (BCC), was originated at SFA by The African American Student Association (TAASA) to give recognition to the black students who were graduating from this organization.
"This ceremony is to give recognition to the organizations graduating members," Urisonya Roberson, Multicultural Center coordinator, said. "Other programs such as the nursing program, the School of Social Work and many others usually have a special thing they do for their graduating members too."
However, the BCC is not closed to just the TAASA members. The ceremony is geared towards celebrating the accomplishment of all black graduating students on the SFA campus.
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, the most recent statistics show the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low rate of 42 percent. This figure is 20 percentage points below the 62 percent rate for white students. Over the past two years the black student graduation rate has improved by three percentage points.