Out of Line
Northeastern State University officials relent after telling American Indian graduates to remove feathers and other items at graduation. In time for the Dec. 15 commencement, there are new guidelines allowing Natives to wear tribal insignia.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
While I understand the position of the graduates, most schools - and indeed many with a high native american population have policies regarding appropriate attire at graduation ceremonies. My opinion is that we all have a culture and heritage that is our own and we can all celebrate that. There is a certain academic regalia, however, and the university officials were right to require adherence to the rules of the ceremony. If you step back and imagine the school’s perspective, it would be very difficult to allow some groups special rights, and deny others. In an effort to be consistent, I definitely see the school being in the right in this instance.