Students plan affinity graduations in just months after University of Texas ban [Video]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a Texas law banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices at public universities in the state, the University of Texas at Austin canceled several minority graduation events it had previously hosted for several years.

This news was dropped on minority students around three months before the May 8 graduation weekend, leaving those communities to self-organize their own celebrations without any assistance from the school or its faculty.

Sources: At least 20 UT employees linked to DEI to lose their jobs

Katherine Ospina, a UT Austin senior, has worked since February with a small team of other student volunteers to organize Latinx graduation.

“[SB 17] is just barring us from funding barring us from faculty and administrative support, and the ability to rent out any venues within the university,” Ospina said. “We’ve had to get creative with celebrating our Hispanic students, in the fact that our funding has to come from individual donors, corporate donors, or advising. We just don’t have …