Harvard University students celebrate at Black Commencement in 2017. Students and outside organizations are increasingly taking over these programs as some campuses nix them amid anti-DEI laws.

Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

For years, Black students gathered at the University of Cincinnati’s African American Cultural and Resource Center for its traditions, including the Tyehimba Black Graduation Celebration and Akwaaba, a welcome event for new students, among other programs. This year, the AACRC, at least as it once existed, is gone. It’s been rebranded “the Cultural Center” after an Ohio law banned diversity, equity and inclusion activities at public colleges and universities in March.

But Black students and alumni wouldn’t let the center’s traditions and resources die.

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