Students carrying signs protest a canceled commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. USC was citing security concerns, in a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
A Pro-Palestinian student places a sign on the Tommy Trojan statue on the campus of the University of Southern California during a protest against the 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum canceled commencement speech on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
Pro-Palestinian students pose for photos in front of the Tommy Trojan statue on the campus of the University of Southern California during a protest of the 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum canceled commencement speech on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
Students protest a canceled commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California was citing security concerns, in a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization
Students hold up a photo of University of Southern California 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum in protest to her canceled commencement speech on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
Students hold up a photo of USC 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum in protest to her canceled commencement speech on the campus of University of Southern California, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California further shook up its commencement plans Friday, announcing the cancelation of a keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu just days after making the controversial choice to disallow the student valedictorian from speaking.
The private university in Los Angeles on Monday said it was canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech at the May 10 ceremony because of safety concerns. Tabassum, who is Muslim, has expressed support for Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and university officials said the response to her selection as valedictorian had “taken on an alarming tenor.” They did not cite any specific threats.
The university’s decision was met with praise from pro-Israel organizations but condemnation from free speech groups and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Students and faculty marched across campus Thursday in silent protest of the university’s decision.
Now, university officials say they are “redesigning” the entire commencement program.
“Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony,” the university said in an unsigned statement posted Friday. “We’ve been talking to this exceptional group and hope to confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”
More than 65,000 people are expected to gather on campus for commencement, including 19,000 graduates.
“Although this should have been a time of celebration for my family, friends, professors, and classmates, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all,” Tabassum said in a statement earlier this week.
The Israel-Hamas war has presented a challenge for colleges under pressure to preserve free speech and open debate, and campuses are expected to be further tested as commencement speeches get underway in the coming weeks.
At Columbia University on Thursday, New York police removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment and arrested more than 100 demonstrators. Most of them were charged with trespassing at the Ivy League-institution.
Several students involved in the protest said they also were suspended from Columbia and nearby Barnard College. The school said it was still identifying students involved in the protest and added more suspensions would be forthcoming.
“Students have a right to free speech but do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams, who said the city was asked by university officials to remove the encampment.
USC Cancels Commencement Speakers Amid Valedictorian Controversy
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- The University of Southern California scrapped all outside speakers from its upcoming commencement ceremonies, following backlash over an earlier decision to cancel a speech by the Class of 2024’s valedictorian.
The announcement Friday afternoon came as protests escalated at the school’s campus in Los Angeles after school officials canceled an address by the student, Asna Tabassum, following complaints by a pro-Israel group that she had engaged in antisemitism in social media posts.
“Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony,” the university said in a statement Friday. “It’s important that our full attention be on our remarkable graduates.”
On Monday, USC officials cited safety considerations in canceling Tabassum’s planned address. They denied that the decision was related to concerns over her social media posts criticizing Israel and supporting Palestinians. Tabassum, who is Muslim and of South Asian heritage, accused the university of abandoning her in a statement posted on the website of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations.
Read More: USC Bars Pro-Palestinian Valedictorian Speech, Citing Safety
A petition to reinstate Tabassum garnered 38,000 signatures, according to the student newspaper, the Daily Trojan, and hundreds of students attended campus protests over the decision.
The keynote speaker at the May 10 ceremony in LA was to have been director Jon M. Chu, an alumnus whose film credits include Crazy Rich Asians. On Friday evening, Chu’s photo had been removed from the commencement website, and replaced with video of students in USC’s red and gold academic regalia.
The controversy at USC comes as part of a wave of unrest at US college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war and the limits of free speech.
More than 100 students were arrested Thursday at Columbia University after school officials called in New York City police to clear a campus demonstration. Columbia’s president testified on Wednesday during a hearing by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on college campuses.
In December, the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania resigned after testifying before the committee and failing to condemn without reservation antisemitic speech on campus.
Read More: Berkeley Professor Rattled by Antisemitism, Protest at His Home
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