NJCU Lavender Graduation 2023

Ceremony Program

Welcome & Purpose

Venida C. Rodman Jenkins, Speicher-Rubin

Women’s Center for Equity and Diversity

Introduction of Guest Host

Elizabeth Hickey, Advisor of The LGBTQIA+ Alliance Student Organization

Guest Host

Fox Squire, Drag King

Greetings

Jodi Bailey, Vice President of Student and Enrollment Management

Dance Tribute

Mason Lee Dance Theatre

Poetry Tribute

Rashad Wright, Lavender Graduate Alum

2018; Former Jersey City Poet Laureate

Comic Relief

Dominique Nisperos, In Full Color

Keynote Speaker

Ivelisse Cruz, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management; Co-Founder of Lavender

Graduation and 2015 Alum

Recognition of Graduates

Danielle Bachant, Director of the NJCU

Counseling Center

Mike Sims, Office of the President

Graduate Reflections

Nayomie Serrano, MBA, Marketing

Ivelisse Cruz

Fox Squire

Rashad Wright

Dominique Nisperos

Graduates

Amirah Kitchen

BA, Psychology

Minor General Business

Ektor Cabrera

BA, Political Science

Minor Global Studdies

Nayomie R. Serrano

MBA, Marketing

We have held Safe Zone sessions, including Train-The-Trainers, for various campus constituents including Housing and Residence Life, the Center for Leadership and Engagement, the School of Business, Nursing, and Multicultural Counseling.

The PRIDE Center has continuously hosted many engagement events bringing the students together and developing an LGBTQIA+ Community on campus! These were our winners from our most recent Valentine's Party!

FacilitatedaSafeZone TrainingfortheJerseyCity BoardofEducationSchool Counselorsin2023!

A Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony was held at the NJCU School of Business to inaugurate its first All-Gender Restroom. The SOB has converted one of its first-floor restrooms to a gender- inclusive restroom which anyone can use regardless of gender identity or expression in 2022!

Ben DeMonaco is our current Graduate Assistant working his magic in person from 2021-present.

Mercedez Ruiz was our inaugural PRIDE Center Graduate Assistant working her magic virtually in 2020!

2020 -2023 Highlight

Olivia Luxe from Ru Paul’s Drag Race fame was our Guest Host for LavGrad 2020 – just before she rose to prime time!

Not missing a beat - we held virtual LavGrad celebrations for the Class of 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic!

Events to create platforms for traditionally underrepresented voices.

Acknowledgements & Gratitude

Co-Sponsors

Center for Leadership and Engagement

Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

Student Outreach and Retention (SOAR)

LGBTQIA+ Alliance Student Organization

Counseling Center

NJCU Gothic Knight Ally Safe Zone Program

Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center for Equity and Diversity

New Pathways to Teaching in NJ

PRIDE Center

NJCU Gothic Card

Council on Hispanic Affairs (CHA)

The Planning Committee

Aisha Rathore, Center for Leadership and Engagement

Chrystal Mateo, New Pathways to Teaching in NJ

Ben DeMonaco, PRIDE Center

Danielle Bachant, Counseling Center

Ivelisse Cruz, Student Affairs

Carolina Espin, Counseling Center

Karina Serrano, Gothic Card

Francis Laing, SOAR

Hafsa Dawood, Counseling Center

The Whole Women's Center Student Staff Team!

Special Thanks

Gothic Knight Ally Safe Zone Program & Lavender Graduation

Gothic Knight Ally Safe Zone Program

Founded in December 2012, with the help of FK Consultants, the Gothic Knight Ally Safe Zone (GKASZ) Program is an initiative sponsored by the Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center for Equity & Diversity at New Jersey City University (NJCU) The Program is designed to promote a climate of respect, support and inclusiveness for students, faculty, and staff members who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual+ (LGBTQIA+), as well as others within the kaleidoscope of sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions.

We are members of the NJCU community – students, staff, and faculty – who have attended a 4-hour interactive training, and have pledged to support an inclusive environment, and oppose all forms of anti- LGBTQIA+ prejudice We are hundreds strong! All members of the NJCU campus, and the surrounding community, are eligible to attend the GKASZ training and help build a stronger ally campus community. Contact us at njcusafezone@njcu.edu for more information.

Why have a Lavender Graduation?

The queer, transgender and gender nonconforming communities at NJCU have been historically active in demanding to be recognized, and to be seen at our institution As Gothic Knight Allies, we have pledged to amplify their voices.

Our vision is that Lavender Graduation will continue to be an annual celebration at NJCU and that the lives of our LGBTQIA+ students will be fully honored. Since LGBTQIA+ students are of every race, ability, nationality, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic levels, Lavender Graduation provides a unique opportunity to present a truly multicultural event while acknowledging students who spent most of their college years succumbing to invisibility on our campus.

The Lavender Graduation makes a strong institutional statement to LGBTQIA+ college students: They are seen and they matter.