The week prior to Commencement, graduates have the opportunity to take part in cultural graduation ceremonies, according to the 2026 Celebration Schedule on the Intercultural Community Center (ICC) website. These ceremonies are dedicated to honoring graduates’ unique and diverse experiences and excellence.
The eight cultural graduation ceremonies are held at the Academic Quad, Cannon Plaza and the Intercultural Community Center (ICC). The ICC partners with the campus cultural organizations to organize Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American Graduation, Black Graduation, First-Generation Graduation, Indigenous Graduation, Latiné Graduation, Lavender Graduation, Multi-Graduation and Middle Eastern and North African Graduation.
According to the ICC’s description of the events, “Cultural Graduation Celebrations are an opportunity for smaller groups to come together and acknowledge students’ accomplishments […] These smaller events provide more intimate settings for students to share these personal milestones with their communities.”
According to the speaker at the 2023 and 2024 Lavender Graduation Celebrations and Arts and Humanities Librarian Erin Sulla, the cultural graduation ceremonies remind seniors they have a supportive network of faculty and staff at the college to come back to even after graduation.
“Cultural graduations are a wonderful example of this ongoing dedication to all Oxy students, regardless of identity or background,” Sulla said via email. “These graduations provide a space for seniors and their support networks to celebrate all their accomplishments and their lived experiences.”
Co-president of Black Student Alliance (BSA) Zuriyah Smith (senior) said she hopes to speak at the 2026 Black Graduation ceremony.
“I would talk about what it means to be a Black student leader at Oxy, to have highlighted our Black culture and the Black experience at a PWI (Predominantly White Institution),” Smith said. “I would talk about why my Blackness is important to me, and why I think the Black culture deserves to be highlighted, and how grateful and happy I am to see myself and my Black peers take this next step into our futures and how I’m looking forward to that.”
Co-president of the Latine Student Union (LSU) Hailee Silva (senior) will be attending the Multicultural, the Latine and the First-generation Graduation Ceremonies and said if she were to speak at one of them, she would discuss her experience as a mixed-race student at Occidental.
“If I were to speak at either, I think definitely showing my side of being Mexican and Filipino and showing the blend of different cultures and then also bringing up my time here as a Latina, especially in a Predominantly White Institution [would be the focus],” Silva said.
Co-president of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American Association (APIDAA) Nirmala Rusli said Cultural Graduation is one of the few ways the Occidental administration has supported the APIDDA community.
“We [sometimes feel] very blindsided by the school and we just [don’t] really feel supported by the institution that allegedly wants to promote diversity,” Rusli said. “But then with Cultural Graduation, it’s like ‘OK, this is where you’ll support us.’”
Smith said it should not take graduating to celebrate and showcase students’ culture and identity, and that we should always be celebrating diversity across campus.
“There should be more opportunities for us to be highlighted as cultures, across the diaspora, whether it’s ethnic or identity, something that you identify as,” Smith said.
Despite these feelings, Rusli said Cultural Graduations nonetheless bring a positive environment for graduating seniors to be with friends when their time at Occidental has come to an end.
“The faculty and students that speak at those ceremonies [are] very uplifting and the vibes are always just so positive, and people are just happy to be there,” Rusli said. “I think it’s hard to find spaces where genuinely everyone is happy to be there, so that’s probably my favorite part.”
Contact Arlo Gallati at gallati@oxy.edu
