Divine Nine alumni at Florida A&M University worry about their school’s growing graduation restrictions amidst controversies stemming from a viral graduation mishap.
In early June, the Philadelphia High School for Girls made headlines for the wrong reasons. A Muslim student, Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, was denied her diploma for doing the “griddy” dance across the stage during her graduation. The incident has garnered millions of views and supportive sentiments for Abdur-Rahman on TikTok while condemning the leadership of the all-girls institution.
The story of Abdur-Rahman and three other girls who claim they were denied their diplomas has caught the national attention of blue-chip news outlets.
Meanwhile, the new restrictions that FAMU has recently placed on its graduates may not serve the best look of the university.
Make no mistake, fraternity and sorority members alike do get a chance to congregate and stroll. But only after the graduation ceremony along with defined stipulations.
“No organization will be permitted to conduct their chapter graduate ceremony in front of any location other than their own designated chapter plot or under the Bragg Memorial Stadium bleachers near Gate 17 (east side) or at the opposite end of the east side bleachers (section K). The use of audio/speakers is prohibited,” according to a July 2023 statement from fraternity and sorority life coordinator, Edward Kincheon.
His statement highlights the rules of “songfest,” a 45-minute time allotment for fraternity and sorority members to come together and send off their graduating members with their respective traditions.
According to the memo, these rules and regulations have only been in place since December 2021. Meanwhile, FAMU fraternities and sororities have partaken in Songfest–esque festivities that have long since been a tradition with FAMU’s Divine Nine.
Post each semester’s commencement ceremony, the joyous strolls and steps from the performing organizations have gone viral on numerous occasions. Raking in hundreds of thousands of views, these high-energy celebratory strolls have proven to be a positive spotlight for fresh HBCU graduates nearing their professional careers.
Further limitations on these cherished moments could be restrictive for the university’s positive messaging.
FAMU has also recently implemented a more potentially serious on-stage anti-celebration policy for its graduates. Though technically, a short celebration will likely go unscathed, the rule aims specifically for members of D9, Greek or other performing organizations.
Matthew Williams, a May business administration graduate and member of FAMU’s Upsilon Psi chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, spoke about some of the restrictions placed on him and his fraternity brothers.
“I believe there was a chance of our chapter being put on C&D [cease and desist] if we strolled on stage,” Williams said.
Williams said he understood the administration’s concerns given the energetic style of his fraternity’s strolls possessing the potential to damage the graduation stage. However, Williams says that he and his brothers were discouraged from participating in any stroll-related activities both on and off stage.
“I kind of understand, because my fraternity strolls incorporate a lot of hard stomping on the ground but not even a neck-roll?” Williams said, denoting some of the trademarks of his fraternity. “Even when we got off the stage, we were being told by a guide we had to sit down immediately,” he added.
Williams loosely hinted that he and his fraternity brothers were going to celebrate with a brief stroll once they had gotten off stage. However, strolling on the graduation stage hasn’t long been prohibited.
Joshua Clements, a 2022 agri-business graduate and member of FAMU’s Alpha Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Ksi fraternity, said limiting commencement celebrations shouldn’t become the new norm.
“When I graduated, we celebrated [on stage] and it didn’t deter from the success of the program… you [students] work four or more hard years in school I would assume any and everyone would want to celebrate their one moment,” he said.
Clements said that there was no sort of anti-stroll limitations imposed upon the Greek members of his graduating class.
Although a brief celebration will likely go unscathed at FAMU, the growing limitations of celebrating at graduation being placed on college and high school students across the country might be due for some pushback.
What makes an HBCU unique is its bravery to be bodacious and outspoken against a world that tells you to do otherwise. For students of color, to graduate college means that a little bit of our history has been rewritten, and the sacrifices of not only ourselves but our families and our ancestors have come to fruition. We’ve seen, how in this digital generation, a brief moment or upload can quickly snowball into a revolution.
Now ex-Philadelphia High School for Girls principal Lisa Mesei was “replaced” just a few days after she denied two students their diplomas. Actions that Mesei thought would prove more efficient for the ceremony wound up putting a justifiable dent in the school’s credibility. So why not just let the kids have fun?