Graduation Guidelines: Diplomas, Dress Codes, and Due Process

With graduation approaching, school officials should consider common graduation-related legal issues and our recommendations for addressing those issues.

Withholding Diplomas and “Walking” at Graduation

The end of the school year is sometimes accompanied by senior pranks and other student misconduct, which may cause school officials to consider withholding a student’s diploma as a disciplinary action. Withholding an earned diploma deprives a student of a constitutionally protected property interest and subjects the school to potential liability. Some courts have ruled that a student who is awaiting an expulsion hearing but has completed graduation requirements is still entitled to a diploma.

While students generally have a right to a diploma after satisfying graduation requirements, they do not have the right to receive the diploma at a graduation ceremony. Like participating in prom and other extracurricular activities, walking across the graduation stage is a privilege that may be revoked. If student misconduct results in discipline at the end of the school year, rather than withholding a diploma, school officials may revoke a student’s privilege to walk at graduation. To avoid backlash from students and parents, school officials should include graduation participation expectations in the student handbook and notify students and their parents of those expectations as early as possible. That notice also should address whether a student who has not timely completed graduation requirements may participate in the graduation ceremony in anticipation of earning a diploma.

Cap and Gown Dress Code

A school can enforce a nondiscriminatory dress code for graduation. However, a dress code may not discriminate based on any legally-protected classification, including sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or hair textures or styles commonly associated with race. The dress code should be communicated to students and parents as early as possible. Courts have upheld published cap and gown requirements and, in one case, a “no jeans” policy. Another court upheld a dress code that prohibited decorated graduation caps. In that case, be­cause all decoration was prohibited, the students’ First Amendment rights were not violated. A student’s refusal to comply with a published nondiscriminatory dress code can justify excluding that student from the graduation ceremony.

Some schools provide different gown colors for male and female students. We recommend allowing students to wear gown colors consistent with their gender identity or allowing all students to choose between two colors. Arbitrary dress code distinctions based on sex are frequently targeted in sex discrimination lawsuits and can be easily avoided by single-color or student-choice color policies.

School officials must also comply with Revised School Code Section 1300, effective April 2, 2025, which requires schools to allow Native American individuals to wear traditional regalia and to bring traditional objects to ceremonies of honor, including a graduation ceremony. Traditional regalia are “any cultural, religious, or ceremonial clothing or wearable items representing a Native American’s tribal of ancestral traditions.” Traditional objects are “any cultural, religious, or ceremonial items or objects that hold tribal or ancestral meaning, significance, or importance for a Native American.” Both terms exclude certain clothing and items such as dangerous weapons prohibited by RSC Section 1313 and tobacco products prohibited on school property by Michigan Penal Code Section 473.

Avoid Religious Holidays

According to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, public schools cannot deny a “privilege” based on religion. Because walking across the graduation stage is considered a “privilege,” schools should avoid schedul­ing graduation ceremonies on religious holidays. Failing to do so may result in lawsuits alleging religious discrimination.

Prayer at Graduation

School-organized or mandated prayer at graduation ceremonies violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a clergy-led graduation invocation is unconstitu­tional. Similarly unconstitutional is a school-led process of having students elect a classmate to lead an organized prayer at graduation.

However, note that individual students may volun­tarily incorporate religious content in valedictory or other graduation speeches. While student speech that is part of a school-sponsored event may bear the school’s imprimatur, censoring religious content from a student’s graduation speech may violate the student’s First Amendment free speech rights. Courts have held that graduation prayer voluntarily initiated by a student without school encouragement is permissible.

School officials should provide students with appropriate guidelines for graduation speeches. We also recommend including a disclaimer statement in the graduation ceremony program stating that the views expressed by students and other speakers do not necessarily represent the school’s views.