Amid widespread repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campuses across the United States, we speak to University of Southern California valedictorian Asna Tabassum, whose commencement speech has been canceled for what the university claimed were “safety” reasons after Tabassum became the subject of an online anti-Palestinian hate campaign led by pro-Israel groups. “When I had asked for details regarding the security concerns,” says Tabassum of learning about the cancellation, “I was offered no information and was told it was not appropriate for me to know.” Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian American Muslim graduating with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide, says the unprecedented cancellation of her speech has been “heartbreaking.”
K I read most of the opinion piece. The school claims, and the author does not believe their claim, that it is for the student’s safety as the student was directly threatened with violence from anti-palestine students.
Which makes some amount of sense but why not just allow them to record it and make it available? Obviously playing at graduation would be unsafe but not giving them their chance they earned is terrible.
I bet all the money in the world if a football player was being threatened they wouldn’t cancel the game.
Oh for sure. But that’s a man’s sport so ya gotta protect it over wherever “nerd stuff” is doing on.