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Native America Calling: Graduation ceremonies are a battleground over regalia
Thursday, May 8, 2025
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Graduation ceremonies are a battleground over regalia
New Mexico is the latest of more than 20 states to formally recognize Native American students’ right to express their cultural heritage at graduation ceremonies.

Those expressions are typically in the form of eagle feathers, beadwork, moccasins, or other traditional dress worn during the ceremony with gowns and mortarboard caps. But many Native students elsewhere continue to face resistance from school boards and administrators.

One Wyoming school principal told a student if he “let one minority do it, then I’d have to let the rest.”

Tune into Native America Calling to recognize this year’s graduating seniors and get up to speed on the ongoing fight over ceremonial regalia.

Guests on Native America Calling
Heather Hostler (Hupa), executive director of California Indian Legal Services

Tracie Yellowman Tséyíníítsó (Diné), University of Utah 2025 student commencement speaker

Morgan Saunders, senior staff attorney in Washington, D.C. office at Native American Rights Fund (NARF)

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