The University of Southern California (USC) is cancelling the entire graduation ceremony for the class of 2024 after it received backlash from pro-Palestinian activists over an earlier decision not to allow valedictorian Asna Tabassum to deliver a speech at the ceremony.
“We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC, including places to gather with family, friends, faculty, and staff, the celebratory releasing of the doves, and performances by the Trojan Marching Band,” the university said in a statement announcing the decision to cancel the university-wide May 10 graduation, which was expected to draw some 65,000 people.
However, 23 satellite graduation ceremonies at USC’s schools and colleges will proceed as planned. The university said it will require tickets for “all commencement events taking place on May 8–11” and direct “all campus access through specific points of entry.”
Tabassum’s Instagram profile featured a link to a pro-Palestinian website that said, “Zionism is a racist settler-colonialist ideology,” and, “One Palestinian state would mean Palestinian liberation and the complete abolishment of the state of Israel” so that “both Arabs and Jews can live together.”
National Review reports that Provost Andrew T. Guzman said in a campus-wide letter on April 15 that the university had learned of threats of an “alarming tenor” after Tabassum was announced as the valedictorian and named a scheduled speaker. The threats “escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement.”
Tabassum has defended her views, claiming she does not support antisemitism and instead claimed the school is targeting her as a hijab-wearing Muslim woman.
National Review details that many other elite institutions around the country have faced on-campus protests by pro-Palestinian students over the Israel–Hamas War. Student protesters formed an encampment at USC to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The protest led to dozens of arrests.
NYPD officers arrested 108 anti-Israel protesters on Columbia University’s campus last week after the university’s president asked law enforcement to step in and break up the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
Columbia University Apartheid Divest organized the encampment and asked students to gather around the lawn to block police from entering. The group led chants calling for an “intifada revolution” and for Hamas to “kill another soldier now.”
As police carried out arrests last week, a crowd of some 500 students looked on and shouted at officers. Officials said the students likened police to the Ku Klux Klan and told officers to go kill themselves.