Next week, Seattle University’s graduating nursing students will walk across the commencement stage without the white stoles that have long distinguished graduates of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS).
The CNHS administration notified students via email April 13 that the traditional white BSN stoles would not be available through Jostens, the company that provides graduation regalia for Seattle U, this year. The college cited a series of logistical problems from the previous year, like delays in listing the stoles on the Jostens website and shipping issues. This caused some students to receive their stoles after commencement had already taken place and instances of students receiving the wrong stoles entirely.
“These problems created significant confusion and stress for students, leading to the decision to discontinue this option,” the college said in a statement provided to The Spectator by Undergraduate Program Coordinator Maiya Mosteller.
Students were encouraged to purchase the standard red Seattle U stole or design a custom one through Jostens’ “stole builder” feature.
The announcement landed without much explanation, and information spread unevenly throughout the cohort. While some students heard through casual conversation that ‘equity concerns’ had factored into the decision, the college administration denied the claim when directly asked.
Ellie Bowen-Keyes, the cohort president and a fourth-year nursing major, emailed the administration on behalf of her classmates after hearing their concerns.
“I heard [that] equity concerns were a part of the reasoning from a friend,” Bowen-Keyes said. “I asked CNHS admin specifically if that was the reasoning, and they told me it wasn’t. As far as I know, the CNHS admin never announced that there were equity concerns with the white stoles.”
The stoles are optional under university policy and not required for commencement participation, but for students who have spent four years working toward their degree, the stoles carry a sentimental weight. The white stole has been a CNHS tradition, a marker of completion after four years of simulation labs, clinical hours and long nights studying.
“Having the white stoles made CNHS students feel like we had something unique to celebrate our program at graduation,” Bowen-Keyes said. “Moving forward, it would be meaningful to CNHS to have the white stoles to represent our hard work.”
This is a decision that has left many frustrated and, in one case, prompted a peer to step in with a creative workaround. Fourth-year Nursing major Krista Llantada responded to this news immediately. Already trained on equipment at the Billodue Makerspace, she began offering to embroider stoles for fellow nursing students at no charge. What started as a plan to customize only her own stole became a small operation for the cohort. Each piece takes between one and three hours, depending on the level of customization requested.
“Every time I give a stole back, I always get a positive response where they express their gratitude,” Llantada said. “I mainly feel relief that they don’t notice the tiny misalignments or loose threads that don’t live up to the professional standards of embroidery!”
Bowen-Keyes hopes the Seattle U community pays attention to what Llantada has done, offering hours of her own time so that classmates can have something special to wear across the stage.
For future cohorts, Llantada suggested the university look into reducing or eliminating the cost of nursing stoles if pricing contributed to last year’s problems.
