The creation of different graduation commencement ceremonies may seem like a step backwards in social justice, but it can be seen as a large step forward as well. In the last issue of The Pioneer, the article “Grad ceremonies should be combined” was printed about having multiple commencements demonstrates that we still segregate ourselves despite decades of change.

CSUEB recently had five commencement ceremonies, all of which celebrated the academic achievement of different minority groups. In generations past, the numbers of those minorities graduating were so few that they were negligible. To have so many different minority students graduating that CSUEB can create individual commencement ceremonies is a testament to the university’s ethnic and cultural diversity.

Many of the students have come from a place where they were aware of the stigmas held against them and the adversities that they would have to overcome to reach this level of academic success. These stigmas include, but are not limited to, the belief that certain minorities cannot make it to college without being really good at sports and you have to work harder to get into college because you are not white.

As a minority scheduled to graduate in the next year, I find it difficult to recall a single moment when gender and skin color did not coincide with success, because society has still refused to acknowledge ethnicity as only a combination of genetic inheritance, cultural background and pigmentation of skin. If social justice is put into perspective, no one should get more points for being one ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual preference, lifestyle choice, or geological location, but it happens on a daily basis anyway.

There is no such thing as quietly breaking glass ceilings. When glass is broken it makes a loud noise and can start uproar. When barriers are broken they do not go unnoticed, and they often bring concerns about the change to the surface.

In terms of the separate ceremonies exclusivity, although they are separate, any race or gender can attend. Segregation and exclusion are terrible machinations of society that should not be embraced. However, the commencement ceremonies do not forbid individuals from participating. Rather it is an individual’s personal belief of who they believe they are and what they identify as that discourages them from participating in a ceremony that is representative of a population that they do not identify with.

The demographics of East Bay are so diverse. Someone within the student population represents almost any culture that you can think of. Each culture is unique from the next, with no culture being identical. With that said different cultures may celebrate differently from
each other.

By embracing multiple commencement ceremonies a student is allowed to choose whichever they feel most comfortable or most familiar with. In that regard it is not segregation but a choice to be apart of what feels right, just like a person would do when choosing a club or organization to join.

If you take out all the minority debates, culture, diversity issues, and social justice aspects, the fact remains that having additional graduation commencement ceremonies allows for more families and friends to watch and celebrate completing an important milestone. In this year’s graduation, each student was given only five graduation tickets.

If you have many family members or important people in your life to share graduation with five is most likely not enough. But they could go to a different commencement ceremony, which is ideally different but important to you all the same, because it represents the same thing.

There is no social justice more important than having the right to choose your own path and make your own decisions. As far as I can see, having multiple commencement ceremonies to choose from helps East Bay achieve that right.