Walking out of commencement in protest at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thursday, May 30, 2024 Photo: AP
Graduations are usually a time for students to celebrate their achievements and look to the future.
But this year, courageous students across the country, thousands strong, are not putting themselves and their own futures first. Against the backdrop of Israel’s depraved and blatant genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, students have found creative ways to sound the alarm about the complicity of their universities and the U.S. empire in this genocide. They’ve often done so in the face of possible arrests, beatings, suspensions, or being prevented from graduating, such as happened to four students at the University of Chicago.
This past week students at MIT, Princeton, Brown, and Cornell turned commencement ceremonies into opportunities to speak out and protest. Meanwhile, students, alumni, and supporters at Columbia, Harvard, and Vassar turned Reunion Weekends into openings for protest.
Four students at University of Chicago whose diplomas were withheld because of their participation in pro-Palestinian encampment. Photo: X-Allyson Nadia
University of Chicago Commencement Protesters Pepper Sprayed by Police: UChicago Students for Justice in Palestine wrote on Instagram that on Saturday, May 29, “students peacefully walked out of graduation ceremonies in solidarity with Palestine and with the four graduating students from whom UChicago is withholding diplomas. Police blocked them from entering the street and brutalized them by pushing them, pepper spraying their eyes, and arrested the parent of a graduating student... Despite this brutality, protestors still marched to the midway and shut down the graduation ceremony for Crown house, funded by the genocidal Crown family. WE CONTINUE TO DEMAND THAT UCHICAGO DIVEST, DISCLOSE, AND REPAIR!! We will not stop, we will not rest!”
Pro-Palestinian supporters disrupt Cornell University 2024 graduation
Harvard alumni walk out of President Garber's speech during alumni weekend for Palestine.
Students for Justice in Palestine joined @vassaralumni4palestine to disrupt Vassar’s reunion, demanding divestment from Israel and pledging to withhold donations until the college meets this demand. Photo: IG vassarsjp
“All eyes on Rafah”—MIT students walk out of commencement: More than 100 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates walked out of their May 30 commencement in protest. With some wearing keffiyehs over their caps and gowns or holding signs “All Eyes on Rafah,” they walked out chanting “Free, free Palestine”—disrupting the MIT president’s address for 10 to 15 minutes and enraging some Zionists in attendance.
“There is going to be no business as usual as long as MIT holds research projects with the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” said one doctoral graduate. “There are no graduates in Gaza. There are no universities left in Gaza because Israel has bombed every single one.”
Pro-Palestine Protestors Walk Out of Princeton Commencement: As University President Christopher Eisgruber began his commencement address with the words “we should all respect and listen to one another despite our political differences” (this after he’d set police on protesters and withheld the degrees of two Black seniors), some 70 Princeton graduates stood up and turned their backs on him in silent protest. Over 15 other students stood up and walked out of the stadium, most wearing keffiyehs. Banners hung from stadium railings, reading “Israel Bombs, Princeton Pays,” “Princeton Out of Israel,” and “No Donations Until Divestment.”
#Revolt4Rafah—New Encampment at Columbia University: On the evening of May 31, timed to coincide with Columbia's Alumni Reunion, some two dozen pro-Palestinian activists established a new #revolt4rafah” encampment in the heart of the Columbia campus. They pitched some 10 tents and banners including “While You’re Earning Rafah’s Burning,” and “@alumni No Donations ‘til Divestment,” the Columbia Spectator reported.
“I think if the University hasn’t already realized that their show of force doesn’t deter us, then they have learned nothing from the movement in the first place,” said one of the protesters. “So long as the genocide and the occupation of Palestine continues, we will be fighting for divestment, especially seeing the invasion of Rafah and the headless child and the burning bodies… I think we all feel sick to our stomach and even though there’s way less of us who are still on campus, we still want to do whatever we can to fight back.”
New College of Florida To Punish Students…for Booing at Commencement!: During the May 17 graduation ceremony at the New College of Florida, “the student section erupted in boos, chanted ‘free Palestine’ and expletives as Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, spoke,” the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported. Some students wore Palestinian flags around their shoulders and turned their backs on Ricketts.
Now New College, which was reshaped by fascist governor Ron DeSantis, is moving to punish these courageous students for speaking up—warning they could face “withholding degrees until they issue an apology letter or take mandatory classes on civil discourse to suspension or expulsion from New College.”