Northern Illinois University is proud to offer several types of recognition for leadership, talent, dedication, support, and achievement on behalf of the LGBT community.
Our awards and scholarships offer opportunities to:
Please use the links to the left to learn detailed information about our awards and scholarships.
The NIU LGBT Resource Center invites LGBTQ students to graduate with pride with our FREE GIFT of a rainbow graduation tassel. Whether you wear it on graduation day or just hang it from your rearview mirror, we offer this token as a way to recognize your achievement.
We offer the tassels each year in the spring for students graduating in May, August, or December of that year. Students who graduated the previous December may also request a tassel if they missed the opportunity the previous year.
If you are an NIU LGBTQ graduating student, and you would like to receive a rainbow graduation tassel, please contact the LGBT Resource Center at lgbt@niu.edu with your name, phone, e-mail, graduation date, and major.
Graduating students are invited each year to be recognized and receive their tassel at the annual Eychaner Award Dinner Banquet during LGBT Awareness Month in April.
In the past, some people have asked if heterosexual allies could wear the rainbow tassels in solidarity. While the LGBT Resource Center encourages the inclusion of allies in almost everything we do, our philosophy about the rainbow tassel is a little bit different. The rainbow tassel is meant to recognize the particular challenges faced by individuals who are marginalized due to their sexual or gender identity. The purpose of the tassel is to designate a particular achievement: reaching the goal of earning a college degree while also negotiating the difficulties that come with societal prejudice and discrimination. For this reason, we do not offer the tassels to our allies, but we hope that you will applaud the achievements of your LGBTQ friends, colleagues and students who wear them on graduation day.