Native Valley students enjoy graduation ceremony after initial event canceled over DEI concerns

PHOENIX — Indigenous students who recently graduated from community colleges in Maricopa County partook in a last-minute cultural ceremony earlier this month.

Initially, their exclusive graduation ceremony was going to be hosted by the Maricopa County Community Colleges District (MCCCD). However, district leaders canceled the convocation due to concerns related to the Trump administration.

After hearing news of the canceled convocations, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) intervened.

How did SRPMIC help Indigenous community college graduates?

The community’s vice president, Ricardo Leonard, said stepping up for students was necessary.

“When we started hearing about the problem itself that the colleges were having, especially within Maricopa County, we wanted to do something,” Leonard said.

Leonard and the SRPMIC’s Tribal council decided to honor indigenous students by hosting a graduation ceremony at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on May 2.

“These people sacrificed a lot of time, sacrificed their family, sometimes to get to this point of graduation,” Leonard said.

The council took action after MCCCD halted the graduations in response to President Donald Trump’s orders to halt DEI programs.

The Trump administration referred to DEI programs as “radical and wasteful,” while threatening to withhold federal money from schools that were not compliant.

With 10 campuses across the Phoenix metro area, MCCCD is the Valley’s largest community college district.

Maricopa County college Indigenous graduates react

Indigenous student Collin Skeets, who spoke at the ceremony, was disappointed after hearing of MCCCD’s canceled convocation.

“When I received that email, it just felt like kind of a slap in the face,” Skeets said. “It felt like, well, ‘What am I putting all this hard work into for if I can’t celebrate it with other fellow Native American, Indian students?’

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs congratulated the crowd of over 50 Indigenous graduates.

“Let me say this loudly and clearly: The state of Arizona, values you, your heritage, your contributions and your traditions,” Hobbs said. “Despite the rhetoric from the federal government, know that as long as I am governor, your identities will not be erased. They will be celebrated.”

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