As Colleges Tamp Down Gaza Protests, Commencement Remains A Flash Point

During her commencement speech at the George Washington University College of Arts and Sciences on Saturday, graduating senior Cecilia Culver condemned the ongoing war in Gaza and reiterated students’ calls for the Washington, D.C., private university to divest from Israel. She didn’t mince words. “The horrors unfolding across the world may be easy to ignore for those lacking a moral backbone,” she told the audience to raucous applause. “I am ashamed to know my tuition is being used to fund genocide,” Culver added, referring to students’ efforts to push the university to divest from investments in Israel. She encouraged her fellow graduates to withhold any future donations to the university until the board has moved to divest.

GW quickly issued an apology, saying Culver’s remarks were “materially different” from those she had submitted in advance and that the university is investigating whether she had violated the student code of conduct. According to GW’s student newspaper, some students also brought signs to the ceremony, despite a change in rules before last year’s graduation that had barred banners. On Sunday, GWU’s university-wide commencement was disrupted when more than 100 students walked out in protest against the war in Gaza.

For the second year in a row, some students have used their graduation ceremonies as a platform to protest against Israel’s conduct of the war. But this spring, the stakes for schools and students are notably higher. An off-script graduation speech now brings with it heightened financial and political risk.

Commencement caps a semester of unprecedented political and economic pressure on colleges—especially the largest and richest schools. President Donald Trump has been quick to voice his disapproval of colleges that have failed to bring down the hammer on pro-Palestinian protests, and has withheld billions of federal funds from Harvard, Columbia and other schools, ostensibly because they haven’t done enough to contain anti-semitism on campus. The Trump Administration is also seeking to deport foreign students for participating in those protests, or otherwise expressing pro-Palestinian views. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House is moving to dramatically raise the tax on endowment income of the wealthiest private universities, and particularly on those with large enrollments of foreign students.

New York University is facing backlash online for withholding a diploma from senior Logan Rozos, who, during his commencement speech at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, abandoned his approved remarks to condemn what he described as an ongoing genocide in Gaza. “I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months,” Rozos told the audience. Some students stood and clapped. “I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today, but to speak for all people of conscience, all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity. And I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide,” he said.

NYU, one of the schools already under scrutiny from the Trump administration for failing to curb alleged anti-semitism on campus, quickly denounced Rozos’s speech and withheld his diploma while it pursued disciplinary action. “NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today … to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” spokesperson John Beckman wrote in a statement. “NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.”

Colleges across the U.S. are seeing students take similar actions and facing criticism for their graduation speaker invitations. Last week, novelist Salman Rushdie pulled out of commencement at Claremont McKenna College in California following backlash from the Claremont College Muslim Student Association over his criticism of pro-Palestinian protests. The college didn’t give a specific reason for the cancellation. “This decision was his alone and completely beyond our control,” president Hiram Chodosh wrote in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to Sir Salman’s visit to CMC and have extended an open invitation to him to speak on our campus in the future.” Taking Rushdie’s place is Richard Heinzl, CEO of My Next Health Inc. and a founder of Doctors Without Borders.

In New Jersey, a state lawmaker urged Rutgers University-Newark to reconsider inviting actor Ramy Youssef to speak at the May 22 commencement ceremony, arguing in a letter that Youssef’s support for Palestine and a cease-fire could be “alienating and isolating” to Jewish students. University administrators declined, and Youssef’s speech will continue as planned. At the Rutgers-New Brunswick ceremony Sunday, six students walked out, chanting “free Palestine.”

Meanwhile, Trump and his allies have attracted their own commencement controversies. Trump will speak at the United States Military Academy graduation ceremony on May 24. In a speech to University of Alabama graduates on May 1, he clunkily weaved in comments on tariffs, attacks on transgender people, immigration issues, and his opinion that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Audience members, some clad in MAGA caps, were largely supportive of Trump. But at a nearby park in Tuscaloosa, one thousand people, including many students, gathered in protest. Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, former Alabama Senator Doug Jones and Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Kyle Sweetser spoke to the crowd.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins spoke to graduates at Piedmont University in Georgia during their commencement on May 9. He stayed away from politics in his remarks, referencing Trump only once, but his appearance still drew criticism from some students and alumni. “I’m sure in a room this size, there are some that will disagree with me, there are some that will agree with me, and there are some who really don’t care who I am, and that’s fine,” Collins told the audience. “I want to know more about you; maybe why we disagree.”

Kristi Noem, Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, spoke at Dakota State University commencement on May 10, where she also received an honorary degree. University officials had invited Noem to speak while she was still governor of South Dakota. The audience was largely supportive of Noem, but outside the university fieldhouse, a group of students and community members chanted and held signs with lines like “Where’s my free degree?” and “No Deportation Without Due Process.”

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