Virginia Commonwealth University students walk out of graduation
Several Virginia Commonwealth University students exited their graduation ceremony on Saturday, partly in response to remarks made by the state governor, who served as a speaker, regarding campus protests.
This coincides with preparations by US school officials for potential disruptions of commencement events due to protests over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Numerous colleges experiencing unrest are hosting graduation ceremonies this weekend. Since mid-April, over 2,000 individuals have been arrested in connection with protests.
Social media posts depicted Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) students leaving the venue in graduation attire as Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin commenced his address.
Criticism had been leveled against the choice of Mr. Youngkin as the speaker for his opposition to VCU’s consideration of a racial literacy requirement and his stance against encampments on college campuses.
Videos shared online captured VCU protesters chanting “disclose, divest – we will not stop, we will not rest.” Many protesting students across the US are urging their well-endowed schools to sever financial ties with Israel.
The applause during the event drowned out Mr. Youngkin’s speech, according to Sereen Haddad, a second-year VCU student involved in organizing the protest.
Ms. Haddad mentioned that approximately 150 individuals, including protesting students, marched outside the ceremony, with some students opting to walk out.
Thirteen individuals, including six students, were arrested at VCU when the encampment was disbanded by police on April 29th. Despite the walk-out, Mr. Youngkin delivered his speech as planned and later congratulated graduates on social media without addressing the protest.
Meanwhile, at another commencement on Saturday, University of California Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ acknowledged the weeks of demonstrations from protesters in her opening remarks.
She expressed sadness over the conflict’s divisive impact on students, faculty, and staff, drawing both applause and chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go.”
During another speech, approximately 20 students stood up, brandishing signs and Palestinian flags while chanting “Free Palestine,” as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Their actions were later joined by additional graduates.
In a statement, UC Berkeley said that the event continued despite being “unfortunately disrupted” and that protesters who left the ceremony did so voluntarily. No one was arrested.
The protest came a day after eight students wore shirts spelling out “UC divest” during the law school graduation ceremony.
In the past month, the BBC has counted more than 130 US colleges and universities with protests against the ongoing war in Gaza.
Campus protests have led to some graduation ceremonies being cancelled, including at New York’s Columbia University, which said last week it was ditching its 15 May commencement in favour of smaller celebrations to focus on keeping students “safe”.
Many schools have brought in additional measures for the graduation events, such as requiring identification, instituting clear bag policies, and issuing warnings that people causing a disruption will be removed.
Some commencement speakers have also withdrawn, like author Colson Whitehead, who said he would no longer be the keynote speaker at the University of Massachusetts Amherst event after police cleared an encampment there.
Others have had their speeches cancelled.
The University of Vermont and Xavier University of Louisiana recently rescinded invitations to have the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speak under students pressure to drop the Biden administration official from the line-up.
Some universities, including University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had police clear encampments and arrest protesters on Friday ahead of graduation ceremonies.
At the University of Arizona, police used “loud munitions” and “chemical munitions” to clear remaining protesters from an encampment, the university said.
While some universities have avoided clearing the protest camps, others have brought in police to help remove demonstrators.
Earlier this week, the chief of police at Arizona State University was placed on paid administrative leave “pending a review” after the school received a number of complaints about his handling of the campus protests in late April, ASU said on Friday.
