Bill would allow Utah students to wear cultural attire during high school graduation

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature is considering a bill that would allow high school students to wear items of religious or cultural significance during graduation.

SB103 passed the Senate with a 25-4 vote, and House Education Committee voted unanimously Friday to recommend the bill. It will now advance to the House for a vote.

Sen. Karen Kwan said she sponsored the bill after hearing from constituents about schools that banned any items that were not distributed by the school, essentially banning students from wearing items like leis.

"This bill comes as a celebration of students, of parents, of family members and of our educators," Kwan said during the bill's House committee hearing. "It shows that all of our students celebrate in ways that are culturally and religiously significant because of the differences that we all have within all of our families."

Madison L, a West High senior of Samoan descent, said she was "extremely angry" when she heard leis would be banned at her graduation.

"It felt as if the district was robbing our identity as a culture and taking away our pride and discriminating against us," she said during a House committee hearing. "Leis are more than just flowers; leis represent love. They're symbols of our family and generations that have passed."

Mohammed Alsaadi, a University of Utah student, said he and his twin sister struggled to be allowed to wear cultural items during their graduation from a West Jordan High School in 2020. After meeting with teachers and vice principal, he said they eventually had to take the issue to the school board and superintendent.

"We just wanted to wear our flags as first generation Iraq-American Muslims, but we have to go through a lot of hoops — each one being bigger and scarier than the last," Alsaadi said. "I don't want any other student in the state of Utah to have to protest and consider not walking at all in graduation instead of enjoying their senior year."

A number of other individuals gave public comment in favor of the bill during House and Senate committee meetings.

Charlene Lui, board president of National Tongan American Society, said the lei's history in the Hawaiian Islands dates back to 750 A.D. and that high school graduations in the U.S. are celebrated hundreds of miles away in Tonga as a reflection of the village the students' families come from.

"The reason why it is so significant to us is because it is very sacred. Yes, it might look decorous and everything, but it is very sacred and there's a lot of spiritualness behind that symbolism," Lui said. "The lei is a symbol of our relationships, our aloha and our love."

Yvette Romero, who recently ran for Granite School Board, spoke about the Mexican sarape, which is sometimes worn as a graduation sash. She said the serape is worn both in honor of ancestors and as a remembrance of the way forward.

"Every time I look at my graduation photo, when I see my serape layered over my shoulders, I feel it's a cloak of remembrance and a reminder of the sacrifices my family has has made," Romero said.

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