School Prevails In Requiring Cap and Gown Over Lakota Regalia For Part of Graduation

In Dreaming Bear v. Fleming, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48970 (D SD, May 18, 2010), a South Dakota federal district court refused a Lakota Sioux high school student's request for a preliminary injunction that would excuse him from his high school's requirement that he wear a cap and gown at graduation while receiving his diploma. Aloysius Dreaming Bear, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, planned to wear his traditional Lakota regalia to graduation. Oelrichs High School officials said he could do so, but that he had to wear a cap and gown over his traditional clothing during the time he walked across the stage to receive his diploma. He could remove the cap and gown as he exited the stage. The school already has scheduled traditional Lakota feather and plume ceremonies in the school gymnasium preceding graduation, and each student who wishes to do so will receive traditional star quilts after leaving the stage during graduation. The court held that the graduation ceremony is school-sponsored speech. The school board may impose restrictions on it that are reasonably related to educational concerns. The cap and gown met that requirement as a universally recognized symbol that demonstrates the unity of the class and celebrates academic achievement.