Afrigather College students march throughout a pro-Palestine protest on the College of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday. USC on Thursday introduced it has canceled its major commencement ceremony amid heightened security issues and a wave of protests on school campuses throughout america. Picture by Caroline Brehman/EPA-EFE
April 25 (UPI) — The College of Southern California on Thursday canceled its major commencement ceremony amid pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
USC in a commencement update mentioned the principle ceremony scheduled for Could 10 was now canceled, citing new security measures on processing individuals who come to campus.
“With the brand new security measures in place this yr, the time wanted to course of the big variety of company coming to campus will enhance considerably,” USC wrote in a press release. “Because of this, we will be unable to host the principle stage ceremony that historically brings 65,000 college students, households and associates to our campus all on the similar time and through a brief window from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.”
The brand new security measures additionally embody issuing tickets for all graduation occasions and solely permitting entry onto campus by particular ports of entry, in line with USC.
College officers mentioned they plan to publish updated commencement plans on the graduation website by Tuesday.
Doctoral hooding ceremonies, particular celebrations and departmental actions and receptions will proceed, USC mentioned.
The choice to cancel the principle stage ceremony follows a controversial few weeks for USC. The campus shut down Wednesday after pro-Palestine protesters, some college students and a few not, clashed with police throughout an indication.
The college final week mentioned it canceled valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s graduation speech, additionally citing security issues.
Tabassum, who described herself as a first-generation South Asian Muslim scholar, drew hearth from the campus group Trojans for Israel for a hyperlink on her Instagram account that known as for “one Palestinian state” by “Palestinian liberation and the entire abolishment of the state of Israel.”
The group known as for the publish to be “denounced as anti-Semitic bigotry.”
USC Provost Andrew Guzman has mentioned the dialogue about Tabassum’s choice as valedictorian had “taken on an alarming tenor.”
“The depth of emotions, fueled by each social media and the continuing battle within the Center East, has grown to incorporate many voices outdoors of USC and has escalated to the purpose of making a considerable threat referring to safety and disruption at graduation,” Guzman mentioned.
Tabassum mentioned she was “shocked” and “profoundly disenchanted” by the college’s determination to cancel her and argued the college did not to elucidate what kind of safety threats she must be involved about.
“As a result of I’m not being offered any elevated security to have the ability to communicate at graduation, there stay critical doubts whether or not USC’s determination to revoke my invitation to talk is made solely on the idea of security,” she mentioned.
USC then introduced it was cancelling all outside speakers for the graduation after Tabassum’s dismissal.
Professional-Palestine protest encampments have sprung up on at the least 30 school campuses throughout america, together with College of Texas Austin, Harvard, Brown, College of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how and California State Polytechnic College, Humboldt.
