Biden to Deliver Commencement Address at Morehouse Amid Concerns from Teachers, Students

ATLANTA — President Joe Biden will deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College on Sunday morning, his most direct engagement with college students since the start of the Israel-Hamas war and an important opportunity for him to engage with a group of voters that data suggest is softening it: young black men.

A White House source familiar with planning Biden’s commencement address told NBC News that the president plans to use his remarks to “focus on students” and “address their concerns.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed that sentiment Friday, telling reporters that Biden sees his speech as “an opportunity to stand up and give an important message to our future leaders.”

“He has been working on these observations over the last few days, I can assure you, with his senior advisors. He is taking this very seriously,” said Jean-Pierre. “It will meet the moment. And I think you will hear directly from the president how he obviously sees the future of this country, and also the community that they represent.”

Biden previewed the tone of his comments during a speech Thursday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Wade ruling.

“Morehouse was founded after our country’s Civil War to help prepare formerly enslaved Black Americans to enter the ministry, get an education, and lead them from slavery to freedom,” Biden said before announcing $16 billion in new investments for historically black colleges and universities. . “Morehouse’s founders understood something fundamental. Education is linked to freedom. Because being free means having something that no one can ever take away from you.”

But Biden’s Morehouse speech will come against the backdrop of protests on college campuses across the country over his handling of the war in Gaza, with many students and faculty voicing opposition to the White House’s continued financial and military support for Israel. . Some in Morehouse hope Biden will speak directly to these concerns during his commencement remarks.

“I hope we don’t have a standardized language. I hope we get something we haven’t heard before. I hope your ethical and moral conscience outweighs any politics,” Morehouse teacher Stephane Dunn said at a protest Friday.

Morehouse has also had pro-Palestinian protests on campus, although the HBCU has not seen the same scale or escalation of demonstrations as some larger universities.

The school’s decision to host Biden as commencement speaker and award him an honorary doctorate almost immediately sparked protests among faculty and students, some of which continued in the days leading up to the graduation ceremony.

“This is a great distraction on a day to celebrate the Class of 2024 in the wake of Covid-19, but it is also an opportunity for students to make their voices heard during a time of increasing war and genocide in the Middle East,” said Calvin, Morehouse senior. Bell said in reaction to Biden’s visit.

“We, as students, faculty and alumni who are on the right side of history, do not support Biden,” said another Morehouse student, sophomore Anwar Karim. “We do not align with all the clear and avid support he has had for a genocidal campaign by Israelis over the past 200-plus days.”

More recently, the Morehouse faculty was divided over the decision to award Biden an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. A letter circulated among staff protesting the decision garnered more than two dozen signatures in support, and the vote to award the degree passed 50-38, with about 12 faculty members abstaining.

Divisions on campus have led to at least three meetings between Morehouse President David Thomas and students and faculty. At these meetings, Thomas recognized the Morehouse community’s right to protest Biden, but encouraged, if not mandated, that these protests not be disruptive.

Before the start, he told CNN that while he will not call for police intervention if protests break out during Biden’s remarks, he will immediately stop them from starting.

“I have also made the decision not to ask police to remove individuals from graduation with zip ties. If faced with the choice, I will cease ceremonies at the site if we reach that position,” Thomas said.

Even the most vocal student protesters at Morehouse acknowledged that any protest during the graduation ceremony would likely not be disruptive, in part because of the volatility that a police response would likely incite.

“I think whatever happens on Sunday from the people and the people who want to see some change will be peaceful,” Karim said. “I don’t see it blowing up like it has on some of the other campuses, because we at HBCUs here are also aware of what interactions with police tend to be like.”

The White House sent its allies to Morehouse, both formally and informally, to assuage concerns and ease tensions over Biden’s visit.

Steve Benjamin, who directs the White House Office of Public Engagement, met with a small group of Morehouse students and faculty this month following a push from the school’s leadership for “direct involvement” from the White House.

During the meeting, some students expressed concern that Biden would overshadow their graduation, while others pleaded with Benjamin to ensure that Biden’s speech did not function as a campaign speech – frustrated with the idea of ​​the commencement speech being a vehicle for Biden reinforces support among blacks. voters.

That sentiment was shared by other Morehouse students who were critical of Biden’s visit.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he only accepted the invitation after Trump was already in power. [Atlanta’s] West End, trying to make gains and failing to make gains with our students here,” Morehouse student Malik Poole said at a campus protest ahead of Biden’s visit. “And this comes at a time when Black voters are fleeing Biden at a record pace.”

Still, Biden’s visit to Morehouse will come amid a concerted effort by his administration and campaign this week to hone his message to Black voters.

On Thursday, Biden met with plaintiffs and their families in the landmark Brown v. Wade case. The next day, he met with leaders of the Divine Nine, a group of historically black fraternities and fraternities, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, herself a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. During his trip to Georgia, Biden participated on Saturday in an event focused on engaging black voters. And after his commencement address, Biden will close out the weekend by delivering the keynote address at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Detroit, where he plans to tout his administration’s accomplishments for Black Americans.

As data suggests that Black voters — especially young Black voters — are souring on Biden, some in Morehouse recognize the “opportunity” Biden has to make his case to members of that voting bloc during his speech.

“If you want … these students to vote for you in the fall, you have to give them something that shows you are listening to them,” Dunn said. “That you’re trying to do something we haven’t heard about. This is the opportunity.”