Harvard graduate who went off script to address Gaza protests said she discreetly revised her speech at the last minute

A Harvard senior who went viral for her commencement speech in which she criticized the school for its response to pro-Palestinian protests has shared new details about preparations for the moment, including how she planned the addendum the night before. .

In a dramatic moment at Harvard University’s commencement last week, student speaker Shruthi Kumar, 22, pulled out a folded card she had tucked into her dress and addressed the university’s decision to to deny 13 fellow seniors earned their degrees because of their involvement in a pro-Palestine camp on campus.

“This semester, our freedom of expression and our expressions of solidarity became punishable, leaving our graduations uncertain. As I stand before you today, I must take a moment to recognize my colleagues: the 13 graduating students from the Class of 2024 who will not graduate today,” she said.

“The students spoke, the teachers spoke. Harvard, can you hear us? she continued, receiving thunderous applause and a standing ovation from many members of the crowd.

The clip, originally captured on a university recording of the event, reached millions of views after circulating on social media last week.

Kumar told NBC News that he wrote and practiced the speech over the course of a few months with the help of a committee of other students and teachers. His speech, “The power of not knowing”, was selected by the university among dozens of others.

But the night before graduation day, Harvard announced its decision not to award degrees to 13 students “who are not in good standing,” overturning an earlier faculty decision that recommended that they should in fact be allowed to graduate. yourself.

“I knew this wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, and I needed to say something,” said Kumar, who graduated with a double major in the history of science and economics. “I spent a lot of time talking to the students that night. And then in the evening, around 11:30, I prepared this card.”

She said she shared the revisions with two faculty advisors, but the university presidents who had already approved her speech didn’t know she was making changes — and heard the new version for the first time when she presented it to a crowd of dozens of people. thousands of people. .

“I was worried about being silenced or my microphone being cut off,” she said. “Fortunately, nothing like that happened. I’m glad I had the opportunity to say what I needed to say. But looking at the video, it is clear that the faculty is not very pleased.”

The Harvard student encampment, like many others that have been set up on campuses across the country in recent months, protested the tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Israel’s attacks on Gaza and called on their university to divest from support financial support to Israel.

“It’s not just Harvard students who are setting up camps,” she said. “Whether it’s what people think is a very liberal university on the East Coast, or a state school in Nebraska, there are protests everywhere, from different types of people, from different regions of the US. what we are talking about.”

Hundreds of undergraduate students walked out of Harvard College’s graduation ceremony last Thursday, also in protest against the 13 students who were prevented from graduating.

Although she did not attend the camp, Kumar said her name appeared on a massive list of Harvard students denounced by pro-Israel groups in the fall, which she mentioned in her speech.

She said her parents, who came from her home state of Nebraska to attend her graduation, were worried that her speech might spark similar reactions or violence. Kumar said that so far, the response has only been positive from both the university and the huge international audience it has reached.

Last week was a whirlwind, she said, but now, back home, she’s excited to take a few months off traveling and exploring entrepreneurship before looking for job opportunities. She hopes to apply to graduate school next year.

“I didn’t know it would explode like this. I didn’t know it would be a moment like this,” she said. “I just knew I had to say something, and I did.”

This article was originally published in NBCNews. with