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Lavender Graduation Ceremony

April 28 @ 5:30 pm EDT

Location: Nelson Mandela Room (Student Union, Room 3214)

Rockland Community College’s 2026 Lavender Graduation Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at 5:30 pm in the Student Union 3214, Nelson Mandela Room. All participating graduating students and guests must register by Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Seating may be limited, participating graduates will be prioritized over guests.

Register

Lavender Graduation is a graduation ceremony celebrating our LGBTQIA+ student graduates and allies, and their contributions to Rockland Community College from the 2025-2026 academic year. We also invite faculty, staff, friends, and family to participate in the celebration and support our students!

All Lavender Graduates will receive a:

  • Lavender Certificate
  • Lavender Graduation Cord

For more information contact Steven Marks at [email protected] or (845) 574-4390.

Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on numerous university/college campuses to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, intersex, questioning, and ally students and to acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the college. The Lavender Graduation Ceremony was created by Dr. Ronni Sanlo at the University of Michigan in 1995. Today, there are thousands of Lavender Graduation Ceremonies at Colleges and Universities nationwide. Graduating students are invited to take part in the celebration.

Lavender Graduation is a cultural celebration that recognizes LGBTQIA+ students and acknowledges their achievements and contributions to the university. Through such recognition, LGBTQIA+ students may leave the university with a positive last experience of the institution, thereby encouraging them to become involved mentors for current students, as well as contributing alumni.

Lavender Graduation is an event in which LGBTQIA+ students share their hopes and dreams and are officially recognized by the institution for their leadership and their successes and achievements.

Lavender is important to LGBTQIA+ history! It is a color combination of the pink triangle that gay men were forced to wear in concentration camps and the black triangle designating lesbians as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. The LGBTQIA+ civil rights movement took these symbols of hatred and combined them to make symbols and colors of pride and community.

Details

Other

EVENT TYPE
General Campus Life, Cultural and Heritage
AUDIENCE
Students, Faculty and Staff, County Community
MODE
In Person
CAMPUS LOCATION
Main Campus - Suffern