EXPLAINER
See how pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on campuses are affecting graduation ceremonies at US universities.
College graduates from across the United States this year are taking the stage to receive their diplomas after donning Palestinian flags and keffiyehs with their caps and gowns.
Graduation ceremonies take place in May, during protests and camps in solidarity with the nearly 35,000 Palestinians killed since Israel’s war in Gaza began more than seven months ago.
Protesters who have set up camps on campuses in recent weeks are calling on their universities to cut academic and financial ties with Israel. Counter-protesters are also making themselves heard, some carrying Israeli flags and displaying pro-Israel messages during graduation ceremonies.
While students at some institutions use graduation to promote their protests, some universities – including Columbia University in New York, where the first camp emerged in April – have canceled ceremonies. Other universities have changed locations and implemented security measures.
Which US universities have seen protests at graduations?
These demos include those in:
- University of Michigan: During the May 4 ceremony, some students held Palestinian flags and banners in protest. Police officers were present during the two-hour ceremony, which did not stop the protests. Protesters demanded that the university divest from companies associated with Israel. The institution allowed students to set up a camp on campus. However, during a dinner held for honorary degree recipients on the evening of May 3, police helped disperse a large gathering outside the dinner venue and at least one person was arrested.
- Northeastern University: Boston College opened on May 5 at Fenway Park. The ceremony was peaceful and some students held Palestinian and Israeli flags. Graduate student speaker Rebecca Bamidele also called for peace in Gaza. Last month, police arrested about 100 protesters in Northeast after breaking up an encampment on campus.
- University of Illinois at Chicago: Commencement speaker Aysha Affaneh took the opportunity to speak about the killing of civilians, especially children and students, in Gaza. “I ask everyone to recognize the Gaza Class of 2024 that no longer exists,” she said.
“I urge all of you to recognize the Gaza Class of 2024… which no longer exists. Students who won’t be on stage this year and 14,000 kids who will never be on stage again.”
It seems these students understand more than Hillary Clinton.pic.twitter.com/i94Hk1hnVa
-Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 9, 2024
- Indiana University: Hours before the institute’s opening in Bloomington on May 4, an alternative ceremony was organized by protesters in Dunn Meadow, where the university camp had reached its 10th day. Students and faculty, including political science professor Abdulkader Sinno, spoke at the alternative ceremony. Sinno was temporarily suspended in December after he was found to have misrepresented an event organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee as an “academic event” on an official university form. Protesters also gathered outside the venue for the official ceremony. The Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported that two planes circled in the sky above the site with banners that read “Let Gaza Live” and “Divest Now – Whitten Resign,” referring to Pamela Whitten, president of the university.
Which universities canceled graduation?
While most U.S. universities are moving forward with their ceremonies as scheduled or tightening security, some have canceled graduations entirely:
- Columbia University: On Monday, Columbia announced that it has canceled its main university commencement, which was scheduled for May 15. Instead, there will be smaller ceremonies for each school within the broader institution. Columbia became the epicenter of pro-Palestinian encampments after students pitched tents on April 17, faced police repression and reported the events stage by stage via the student-run radio station.
- University of Southern California (USC): Like Columbia, USC canceled its main ceremony in favor of smaller events for different schools. More than 100 graduation events began Wednesday and will continue through Saturday.
- California State Polytechnic University: The campus in Humboldt, North Carolina, will host smaller off-campus ceremonies. The institute called police to campus last week to arrest student protesters demanding divestment from Israel. The campus has been closed since then.
How else did the protests affect graduations?
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield was scheduled to speak at the University of Vermont’s commencement on May 19. However, the institute announced that Thomas-Greenfield will no longer speak.
This followed a week of protesters at a student camp demanding that she be removed as speaker on the basis that she had, on behalf of the US, vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions calling for a cease -fire in Gaza.
Are US universities taking action against graduation protests?
While some universities have chosen not to attempt to clear camps during graduation, including Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, some universities have beefed up security and implemented rules preventing protests.
At the University of Pennsylvania, posters, posters, flags and artificial noise will be banned at the May 20 graduation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
At USC, students can only carry clear bags at ceremonies. Umbrellas, banners, selfie sticks and noise-making machines, such as whistles or horns, were banned.
On Monday, the president of Emory University announced that its commencement a week later will take place off campus at an indoor complex called the Gas South District in Duluth, Georgia, due to “safety and security concerns.”
How did the US government respond to the graduation protests?
US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the peaceful protests at graduations, according to White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
“We were very clear. We believe all Americans should have the right to peacefully protest,” she said Tuesday. “What we don’t want to see is hate speech, violence.”
Biden is scheduled to deliver a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta on May 19.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
