The Annual Post About Graduation Ceremony Attire

I doubt Native Americans held high school graduations, so no, this isn’t going against their culture.  They can wear whatever they want when they have their own celebrations. 

Why don’t they complain when football players don’t wear a feather in their uniforms?  Because football is important.

I’m against turning graduation ceremonies into free-for-alls and costume parties:

She won. Her graduating senior son can wear representative tribal wear at his Elk Grove high school ceremony Tuesday, but she objects to what she views as an unnecessary fight to allow him to do so. 

So her fight goes on. 

Jessica Lopez objected to school officials initially rejecting her son Louie’s desire to represent his Maidu culture at his Pleasant Grove High School ceremony at Golden 1 Center because school policy barred the adornment of graduation garb with other items. After legal threats, the school has reversed course, and her son will wear an eagle feather representing his Maidu heritage. 

Lopez, a past Maidu tribal chairwoman, said despite that outcome, she and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California are demanding the district end its graduation dress policy and allow its indigenous students to wear tribal regalia without schools’ pre-approvals, calling the rule “flagrantly unlawful.”

It's for reasons like this that I haven't attended or volunteered to work at my school's graduation exercises in many, many years.  They've become parties that I'm not interested in attending.

Update:  She could wear the feather in this Colorado district, but cannot wear a sash:

According to the order, Garfield County School District 16, in the western part of the state, had indicated that sashes or cords worn during graduation typically represent membership in a nationally recognized organization; other distinctions such as class honors; future military service; or “regalia that is part of a Native American or Pacific Islander tribe.” Additionally, the school district’s policy says “(i)t is appropriate” to decorate a cap with the “flag of a country as recognized by the United Nations,” the order said. 

In her ruling, Wang said that a student wearing regalia at graduation sends a message that the school approves, so it “qualifies as school-sponsored speech, at least for the duration of the ceremony.” The district insisted that standardized attire was required to create a message of unity, a concern that the judge deemed legitimate.

The judge also pointed out that the district’s policy would have permitted Villasano to reproduce the design of the sash on her graduation cap, and would have allowed her to wear the sash before and after the ceremony.

“While Naomi may prefer to wear the sash during the graduation ceremony, the Court respectfully agrees with the School District and concludes that Naomi will not suffer irreparable injury by having to express her culture in a form other than the sash,” Wang wrote.