Lavender Graduation

In addition to its curatorial program EMPAC supports many campus events. This event is presented by the LGBTQ Task Force.

Lavender Graduation is an LGBTQ+ graduation celebration that was founded at the University of Michigan by Ronni Sanlo in 1995. In the years since, Lavender Graduation has spread to a number of colleges and universities around the country. On May 16, Rensselaer will host its third annual Lavender Graduation ceremony to honor several graduating LGBTQIA+ students (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and/or questioning).

The event serves as an opportunity to celebrate the unique achievements and obstacles that many LGBTQIA+ students experience while studying at, and graduating from, a prestigious and rigorous institution of higher education like Rensselaer, and to recognize individual students, faculty, staff, and alumni for their contributions to the campus community.

The mission of the LGBTQ Task Force is to ensure that all students, staff, faculty, alumni, visitors, and guests of RPI have the right to safety and the expectation of safety in their personal identity and the expression of that identity, whatever it may be, within the bounds of both the law and mutual respect for the differences of other members of the Institute.  We pursue developments in policy, facilities, and the deployment of range of resources across campus to specifically support the LGBTQ members of the Rensselaer community, as well as working to advance diversity and inclusion more broadly.