Graduating seniors at Washington and Lee will no longer have the option to participate in cultural graduation ceremonies.

The decision by the university comes after the Department of Education sent a letter in February to all federally funded schools requiring them to end programs that increase or promote diversity, according to previous Phi reporting.

Events like Donning of the Stoles and Lavender Graduation are among the ceremonies not on this year’s official schedule of events.

Donning of the Stoles has been a tradition at W&L for nearly two decades, according to the university’s own website. The ceremony, which originally began to celebrate the achievements of African American students, expanded in 2016 to include students of all marginalized backgrounds. Last year, the ceremony included the friends and family who presented graduating seniors with regalia

“For me, it was like a very special kind of moment to have, not just for myself, but for a lot of my closest friends who were of minority status,” said Catherine McKean, ’24.

McKean said the ceremony felt more intimate and celebratory than the larger graduation ceremony.

Lavender Graduation, a ceremony designed to celebrate LGBTQ+ graduates, is also missing from this year’s schedule.

Last year, the university’s Office of Inclusion and Engagement (OIE) sent out some information about Lavender Graduation through the Queer Liberation Alliance, a student-run LGBTQ+ organization. When asked, the current president of the QLA did not have any information on the status of Lavender Graduation this year.

Dean Tamara Futrell, the head of OIE, did not respond to requests to comment.

McKean, who served as the Vice President of the QLA in the 2023-2024 academic year, said that the school didn’t share the details of Lavender Graduation 2024 publicly because of fear of push back from alumni.

“They weren’t advertising it,” said McKean, “It was a very isolated little event, when I know in past years, it wasn’t like that.”

“I’ve always wanted my accomplishments as a queer person on this campus to be recognized,” said a queer senior who didn’t want to be named due to fears of harassment.

For Mariah Scott, ’25, the most difficult change to this year’s commencement was that she would have to buy her own stoles.

“I feel like it could signal the wealth gap at the university, because [to] some people, paying for a stole is really easy,” said Scott. “Other people that might be like a financial burden on them.”

In previous years, many student organizations covered the cost of graduation adornments for graduating seniors. This year, university funds can’t be used to purchase adornments on behalf of graduating students, said Dean Rhonda Bryant in a Febuary email to seniors.

The email to students was sent the same day the Department of Education sent its letter to federally funded schools.

“According to the Business Office, graduation adornments are considered a personal expense which is not covered by tuition or fees,” said Bryant in an emailed statement to the Phi.

Bryant noted that according to Executive Committee policy, club funds cannot be spent on gifts to seniors or any other members of a student organization.

McKean says W&L should not give into pressure by the federal government to end DEI programming.

“Hiding things and sweeping things under the rug isn’t the answer,” she said.