WCollege students who risked school discipline for their pro-Palestinian activism were celebrated by classmates and supporters for their moral clarity at a church across the street from Columbia University on Thursday.
Columbia and Barnard College faculty and staff helped organize the ‘People’s Graduation’ at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Hundreds of students, most from both schools, attended. So did a few others from New York University, the City University of New York and the Parsons School of Design.
Hours before ‘People’s Graduation’ began, Columbia University’s Arts and Sciences faculty approved a vote of no confidence at university president Minouche Shafik. The resolution criticized her for an “unprecedented attack on student rights” after she twice invited police to campus to arrest protesting students. More than 60% of 709 teachers voted to express no confidence in Shafik; 29% voted against and 6% abstained.
Columbia University canceled its largest official graduation gathering earlier this month, citing security concerns, and was not involved in organizing the ‘People’s Graduation’. They still held smaller celebrations, grouped by type of school. Nearly 17,000 graduates celebrated these ceremonies last week, according to the university. Barnard College held a graduation ceremony Wednesday; some students, including Student Government Association president Mariame Sissoko, who gave a speech, spoke out in favor of defending Gaza at the event.
Shayoni Mitra, a senior lecturer in Barnard College’s theater department who helped organize Thursday’s ceremony, says the team wanted the event to provide students with a space of refuge. She says there are currently about 200 active disciplinary hearings for Columbia and Barnard students, based on crowdsourced self-reported numbers. Mitra says the university did not provide officials with further details about the number of students facing potential suspension or expulsion. Columbia University did not respond to a specific request asking for clarity on the number of students facing disciplinary proceedings.
“I feel a deep conviction that this ceremony reflects the moral center… of our community,” says Manu Karuka, associate professor of American Studies at Barnard College, who also helped organize the event. “This cohort is really special.” It highlights how students provided housing and food to each other, as the university revoked access to dormitories and dining halls for some students after a campus lockdown.
See more information: What America’s Student Photojournalists Saw in the Campus Protests
Dunnia, a 23-year-old Palestinian student, is part of a small group of Palestinian Americans who attended “The People’s Graduation.” “This ceremony… gives me hope,” she says. (Dunnia asked to withhold her last name for fear of doxxing.) On Thursday, she wore a cream-colored top and bottom, along with an all-scarf with special Palestinian embroidery known as tatreez. She describes tatreez as a form of resistance and points out specific parts that refer to Palestinian villages and others to olives.
Dunnia says she was often at Columbia’s student camp and continues to protest divestment off campus. “I am willing to sacrifice, whether it be my education, my job or whatever, for the freedom of Palestine,” she says. Asked about her reaction to the increased police presence on campus, Dunnia recalls her time in Palestine. “It reminded me of home. Having the police always present is a tactic to threaten us, to scare us. I don’t find it scary anymore,” she says. Dunnia also attended a smaller official school ceremony earlier in the week. When she shook the dean’s hand, she told him: “Divest now, Free Palestine,” she says. Others chose to boycott these events entirely. A graduate student whose father was deployed to Vietnam as an army medic says he didn’t have the courage to go. “I didn’t think it was right,” he shares. (He requested anonymity for fear of being doxxed.)
Ryna Workman was not allowed to walk at NYU’s official graduation after attending two camps and also occupying the university’s library, they say. Workman also lost a job offer from a law firm after they said in a statement following the Hamas attack on October 7 that Israel bore “full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life. This state-sanctioned regime of violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary.” (Winston & Strawn previously said his comments “profoundly conflict” with the company’s values.
Workman doesn’t know if he’ll still be able to get his degree and worries that $300,000 and three years of work could go “down the drain.” They are grateful for Thursday’s event, noting, “We’re here because you can’t really take our joy away – you can’t take the celebration away from us. Even if we can’t do it on your stage, we’ll do it on a different stage… We got here on our own terms; let’s graduate on our own terms.”
An NYU spokesperson said the university’s graduation was held successfully on Wednesday and only “a few dozen students” of the 14,000 graduates in attendance left. “The number of graduates who were unable to participate in graduation due to disciplinary sanctions resulting from recent incidents was very small – less than a handful,” they said. “Even among this very small number of students, not being able to participate in the graduation ceremony does not mean they will not receive their diplomas.”
The Very Reverend Patrick Malloy of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine says Thursday’s event was not a political rally, but a space where any student or staff member can participate. He adds that the church was happy to provide a space for some faculty members in response to their request to organize an alternative graduation ceremony, especially since there was no longer a larger official ceremony. He notes that the presiding Bishop, Rev. Michael Curry, joined other religious leaders in calling for the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas and calling for a ceasefire.
Before Thursday’s ceremony, right in front of the church, a student sold prints of ‘Hind’s Hall’ that she illustrated for $10; a sign indicated that half of the proceeds would go to Gaza. (A group of student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall earlier this month, before renaming it Hind’s Hall — as a tribute to the 6-year-old Back rajabwho was killed during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.)
Thursday’s event was often celebratory and jubilant, with speakers praising the students for their commitment to justice and for sparking a global movement of pro-Palestine camps. “This type of solidarity immortalizes Palestine forever,” said Palestinian-American Rahmah Badran, chosen as the event’s official student speaker, in a speech. It was a stark contrast to how Shafik described the protests. After the student occupation of Hamilton Hall, she wrote in a May 1st Declaration, “This drastic escalation of many months of protest activities has pushed the University to the limit, creating a disruptive environment for everyone and raising security risks to an intolerable level.” But many student protesters said police conduct is what makes them feel unsafe. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations of violent conduct.
Thursday’s speakers also repeatedly referenced Israel’s bombing of universities and Wednesday’s 76th anniversary of the Nakba. (Palestinians refer to the creation of Israel and the subsequent displacement of some 750,000 people from their homes as the Nakba, or catastrophe.) Many argue that the Nakba is ongoing, with the continued displacement of Palestinians as they fleeing from one designated “safe zone” to another.
At times the event became darker. Musician Vijay Ayer dedicated a piano piece to Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, killed in an Israeli airstrike. As he played, a slideshow of photos from Columbia Journalism School graduate students featured images of the encampments and protests. Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah burst into tears while reciting a poem he wrote about Palestinians killed by Israel.
The ceremony also featured prayers led by a reverend, rabbi and member of the Muslim community. “You sought justice for the people of Palestine: keeping the world’s attention on this terrible war… you protested peacefully, seeking to end the violence, calling on your university to divest itself of weapons of destruction and not of defense,” said Rabbi Rebecca Alpert.
Noura Erakat, a popular Palestinian-American lawyer and human rights activist, thanked the students who helped support the arrest to help the arrested protesters. She spoke about how Palestinians in Gaza expressed gratitude to the students for their protests, before broadcasting a video message from Al Jazeera Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary in Gaza. “You gave us hope,” Khoudary said. “Keep protesting. We are still being bombarded. We are still being killed. Hopefully I’ll see you soon when this is all over.” Journalist Mona Chalabi, who won a Pulitzer Prize, criticized mainstream media outlets for their coverage in Gaza and paid tribute to the diligent reporting of student journalists – some of whom were in the audience.
The ceremony ended with a performance by a group of student protesters who began playing together after meeting at the camp. “This is a song that many of you know intimately from many protests,” one of the singers said, before starting.
“Wherever you go, I will go my friend
Wherever you go, I will go
Because your people are my people
Your people are mine
Your people are my people
Our struggles align”
It was the same song that the student protesters sang when they first occupied Hamilton Hall and when police arrested them.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
