Students whose 2020 high school graduations were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly because of the draconian policies resulting in mass lockdowns—now face the possibility of their college graduation ceremonies being canceled as a result of the Israel-Hamas war protests that have taken place on several college campuses nationwide.
The protests, which began at Columbia University, have spread to dozens of college campuses, including other Ivy Leagues Harvard and Yale, as well as colleges like New York University (NYU), Emory University, the University of Southern California, the Ohio State University, the University of Texas at Austin, George Washington University, and others.
Due to safety concerns because of the protests, the University of Southern California (USC) announced that it will cancel its senior graduation ceremony, which typically can draw in around 65,000 visitors, including students, graduates, and their family members.
On Wednesday, Andrew T. Guzman, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at USC, released a statement on protests at USC, after protesters clashed with security personnel.
“[Protesters’] actions have escalated to include acts of vandalism, defacing campus buildings and structures, as well as physical confrontation that threatens the safety of our officers and campus community,” Andrew T. Guzman, USC’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs said in a statement released on Wednesday. “As a result, we have closed the campus gates and are taking action to restrict growth of the protest and keep the rest of the campus calm. Until further notice, we are restricting unauthorized visitors from entering campus.”
Following the announcement of USC’s canceled ceremony, students attending colleges where demonstrations have taken over whole courtyards and streets on campus expressed fears that they would be the next class affected.
Lili Orozco, the Turning Point USA chapter president at the University of Pittsburgh, said that students have set up tents at a park “in the middle of campus,” in violation of park rules. In response to USC’s canceled graduation ceremony, Orozco expressed concerns that her university’s ceremony might be affected as well.
“Our ceremony is this Sunday, and we don’t know what will happen,” Orozco told TPUSA. “No one is doing anything about the protesters, and the protesters are aggressive if you try and approach them.”
Jacob Schmeltz, a senior at Columbia and the vice president of the Jewish on Campus Student Union also said, “I’m a senior in college, and, especially as someone who graduated high school in 2020, I never had a real high school senior year, either.”
Progressive students and professors have claimed that the racial disparities between the two groups somehow justify the terror organizations’ actions. Many Jewish students have feared for their safety on campus since the demonstrations, which have only grown more disruptive in recent months, began.
Groups of Jewish students and Jewish organizations have filed lawsuits against Harvard and UC Berkeley over alleged “unaddressed” antisemitism that threatens Jewish students’ safety.
This piece first appeared at TPUSA.
