What’s Up With That? Columbus Dispatch reporters find answers
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For more than three decades, hundreds of Ohio State University students of color have gathered on the eve of spring commencement each year to be recognized for their academic achievements at the Afrikan American Farewell Celebration. But this year, it was at risk of not happening.
That’s because when Ohio State announced in February that it would sunset the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which had long been a sponsor of the event, gone with it was funding. The celebration itself was also under review as part of the university’s audit of programming, initiatives and projects that have traditionally been considered diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The news reverberated across Ohio State’s vast alumni network, many of whom participated in the event themselves as students and understood the weight this event holds for OSU’s Black community.
“When they said they were closing things, we needed to come up with creative solutions,” Chibundu Nnake, president of the Ohio State Black Alumni Society, told The Dispatch.
Months of planning, fundraising and compromise culminated on Saturday, May 3, inside the Ohio Union’s Archie Griffin Ballroom for the 33rd annual event, now called simply The Farewell Celebration.
The name change was one of the university’s recommendations to allow the event in order “to be clear that the event is open to all students,” said OSU spokesperson Chris Booker. Additionally, the National Pan-Hellenic Council took the lead in hosting the event, in partnership with Ohio State’s Sorority and Fraternity Life and the Black Alumni Society.
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Nnake said The Farewell Celebration has always been open to all students, but it is encouraged that students who participate have a connection or some type of understanding of African or African American culture.
About 200 graduates of all levels filed into the packed ballroom to the cheers of their loved one. Most came dressed in their graduation robes, and many had stoles draped across their necks representing one of the nine historically Black, Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities, better known as the Divine Nine.
Melissa Shivers, senior vice president for student life at Ohio State, thanked the team who made the event possible and said the celebration is “indeed a point of pride” for the graduates and their families.
‘I am living my ancestors’ wildest dreams’
Most speakers at The Farewell Celebrate were not shy when it came to addressing the changing landscape of higher education and the politics behind those changes.
Jeremiah Ratcliff, an Ohio State junior and president of the university’s National Pan-Hellenic Council, said the road to graduation has not been easy for many of this year’s seniors. When the spaces created to uplift this community — like the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Center for Student Belonging and Social Change — sunset, he said, it’s moments like this that remind them of the obstacles in their path.
“Despite all of that, you are here. You are standing. And you’re not standing by any accident,” Ratcliff said. “You are standing because you gave effort. Even when it was hard, even when you were tired, even when the world made you question your own worth, you accomplish this because of the unique ability that only you possess.”
Amaree Middleton, president of Ohio State’s Black Student Association and the event’s senior student keynote, told the audience that she couldn’t give her remarks without naming what many in the room were feeling about attacks on DEI work in higher education.
“They might be removing diversity, equity, and inclusion from their books, but it’s still written in ours. They might try to bury it, but we’re here to resurrect it,” she said.
Middleton said she and her peers are “the living legacy of those who made DEI a movement before it had a name.” As they graduate and leave the university, she said the will continue to serve the Black community, honoring their ancestors, activists, educators, and “every student who dares to take up a space in the classroom there was not designed for us.”
“I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Middleton said.
Speaking before the audience, Nnake said he relished in the small part that he and his fellow OSU Black Alumni Society members had in making sure that this event actually happened.
In an open letter in early March, Nnake made a promise on behalf of the alumni society to the Class of 2025, vowing to raise the money necessary to ensure that the Afrikan American Farewell Celebration could take place this year and for years to come: “We will not allow this cherished tradition to be another casualty of these short-sighted decisions. Your achievements deserve to be celebrated, and your community stands with you.”
Nnake said the graduates before him represented a resilient generation, regardless of DEI rollbacks and a renewed fight for civil rights.
“Your presence here today is a living, breathing, diploma-earning testament to that enduring spirit,” Nnake said. “It shows the world unequivocally, no matter how the legal changes and the the societal obstacles or the circumstances that have been — yes, and let’s be real — and will continue to be especially under this administration.”
Farewell Celebration centers joy for Ohio State graduates
Despite decisions that could’ve ended The Farewell Celebration, the event was still a celebration of students’ accomplishments.
“We stand here today, shoulders held high, diplomas within reach because we stand on the shoulders of giants,” Nnake said. “We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors.”
The audience rose and joined the OSU African American Voices Gospel Choir to sing a rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black national anthem.
Unlike a typical Ohio State commencement ceremony, where only doctoral students have their names read at graduation, every student attending the Farewell Celebration has their name read. Family members and friends in the audience cheered for their graduates from the crowd.
Students of all academic levels were given a kente stole, a symbol of achievement and overcoming hardship that pays homage to the ancestors’ sacrifices. The black, gold, red and green fabric matches that of the cloth worn by kings during the Ashanti Empire in the 17th century in what is now Ghana.
Many graduates involved in Greek life received their stoles stepping across their stage as their fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters cheered them on.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
