Students in the US have defied growing repression to stage a wave of protests during graduation ceremonies in solidarity with Gaza.
Donald Trump’s administration has sought to terrify pro-Palestine students into silence through a series of high-profile arrests. Rumeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University grad student, was seized by plainclothes agents off the street after she co-authored an op-ed in support of Palestine. She spent six weeks in detention until a federal judge ordered her release.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student arrested for his role in last year’s pro-Palestine encampment, remains incarcerated in Louisiana. Many other students have lost visas, spreading fear across the campuses.
University managements have also paved the way for Trump through repressing their own students. Columbia shared student disciplinary records with the federal government, and NYU has banned more than two dozen students from entering some university buildings after they held a sit-in outside the President’s office.
But graduation ceremonies have become the scene for renewed protests. On 15 May, NYU student Logan Rozos delivered a speech at his graduation condemning Israeli atrocities and arguing that, “the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States”.
In response, the university denounced his “one-sided political views” and withheld his diploma.
Despite this, other students followed his lead. On 17 May, George Washington University student Cecilia Culver used her commencement speech to condemn her university’s ties with Israel. Her university responded by banning her from campus.
On 21 May, Columbia’s Acting President Claire Shipman was met with deafening boos and cries of “Free Mahmoud!” when she attempted to address graduates. Dozens of CUNY law graduates walked out of their ceremony, wearing keffiyehs and Palestinian flags.
Over 1000 Harvard students walked out of their commencement service. Harvard senior Shruthi Kumar used her commencement address to denounce the fact that Harvard’s administrators had stopped 13 undergraduates from graduating over their involvement in last year’s pro-Palestine encampment.
It is a testament to the strength of the movement that it has fought back in the face of such repression and intimidation. The Trump administration has failed to silence student protest.
By Jacob Starling
