Graduation ceremonies nationwide plagued by disruptive Pro-Hamas demonstrations
Schools across the U.S. encountered various pro-Hamas disruptions during their respective commencement ceremonies.
NYU’s commencement event featured graduates walking out during President Linda Mills’ speech while wearing keffiyehs and chanting with red paint on their hands.
Pro-Hamas student groups across the United States recently took to social media to celebrate anti-Israel demonstrations occurring during various college graduations this spring.
On Saturday, NYU’s Palestinian Solidarity Coalition posted an Instagram collage of various disruptions to school ceremonies by students who demonstrated for pro-Palestine causes.
In the videos posted to the group’s Instagram account, students at NYU’s commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium were seen walking out during President Linda Mills’ speech while wearing keffiyehs and chanting with red paint on their hands.
Additionally, graduates inside of a packed auditorium disrupted another NYU graduation ceremony while chanting “Free, Free, Palestine.”
“Graduating seniors across various NYU schools attended and disrupted their commencement ceremonies, calling attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and NYU’s complicity,” the student organization wrote. “Amid the chaos of the Yankee Stadium graduation, students left the arena during Linda Kills speech and rallied outside in front of NYPD correction buses.”
“Others walked the stages wearing keffiyehs, holding banners, and stretching out blood-stained hands,” the message continued. “Linda Kills was booed and heckled everywhere she showed her face (even when she was too cowardly to come in person). NYU must hear our anger and desire for justice, true celebration can only come from liberation.”
An additional video from NYU’s Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine shows the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study student commencement speaker delivering an address during the school’s graduation ceremony about ‘collective liberation’ for Palestine.
”This question of reshaping what is broken is especially present on my mind tonight as students across the world cannot attend their university graduations because they have been killed, their campuses have been bombed, or they have been forcibly removed, or arrested at school, and banned from this ceremony tonight,” NYU student Alex Friedman received an applause for stating.
Various other universities have faced disruptions due to related pro-Palestine protests at their respective commencement ceremonies.
A post from Columbia University’s SJP Instagram account blames the Teachers College of removing “Free Palestine” student banners from being featured in the official commencement ceremony recording.
On the Fordham University SJP Instagram account, one student is seen walking across the stage at graduation holding a banner that reads: “DISCLOSE DIVEST.” The pro-Hamas group captions the post as: “Banners, flags, signs, pins, and keffiyeh’s at Fordham’s commencement on Saturday. The students, united, will never be defeated.”
In addition to these schools, graduates at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities walked across stage wearing keffiyehs over graduation gowns, with one student’s banner reading: “Students 4 Palestine,” as seen in an Instagram video from the school’s SJP account.
In a video shared on X, students at Yale University were seen outside of their graduation ceremony after walking out, with the crowd chanting: “Disclose, Divest, We will not stop, We will not rest.”
RIGHT NOW: Yale students walk out of graduation waving Palestinian flags and chanting “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” pic.twitter.com/T6yQKhszRm
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) May 20, 2024
One graduate at George Washington University was also seen in a video on X chanting, “Free Palestine,” in the middle of her university’s graduation ceremony, with graduating students seen waiting in their seats for protesters to leave.
The voice of opposition against the genocide and the liberation of Palestine at the graduation ceremony at George Washington University pic.twitter.com/jk86GU4maY
— Gaza Under Attack_🇵🇸 (@Palestine001_) May 21, 2024
Campus Reform has contacted New York University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
