Colleges across the country are facing difficult decisions about whether to scale back or cancel their commencement ceremonies amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests.
Columbia University, home to the beginning of the pro-Palestinian encampment movement and the first campus to see an escalation with police, announced Monday it canceled its university-wide ceremony. The same day, Emory University, another campus roiled by protests, announced it would move its commencement from its campus in Atlanta to a suburban arena.
The moves followed a weekend during which several universities saw disturbances to their graduation ceremonies. The ongoing protests and university responses are complicating an already politically sensitive and complex issue facing the Biden administration just months ahead of the 2024 election.
Pro-Palestinian Student Protests
Columbia, which cited conversations with student leaders in its explanation for canceling its traditional graduation ceremony, said it would instead make its “Class Days and school-level ceremonies” the centerpiece of its commencement activities.
“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” the statement said. “They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers.”
The school’s announcement drew the ire of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who released a statement responding to the decision. He said that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik and school administrators, “have displayed a shocking unwillingness to control their campus” and have “allowed outside agitators and terrorist-sympathizing students and faculty to rewrite campus rules and spew vile, anti-Jewish aggression.”
Johnson then re-upped his call for Shafik to step down, saying, “Because it is abundantly clear that President Shafik would rather cede control to Hamas supporters than restore order, Columbia’s Board of Trustees should immediately remove her and appoint a new president who will. Our once great universities desperately need strong moral leadership, now more than ever.”
Meanwhile, at Emory University, president Gregory L. Fenves released a statement saying concerns about safety and security had prompted the university to move commencement to Duluth, Georgia, about a half-hour away from the main campus.
Pro-Palestinian students at Emory set up an encampment on the school’s campus in April. But the scene quickly became chaotic when confrontations between police and protesters broke out.
“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” Fenves said about the commencement decision. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors, and other agencies – each of which advised against holding Commencement events on our campuses.”
In late April, another university roiled by protests – the University of Southern California – became the first university to cancel its main graduation ceremony, citing “new safety measures in place.” In lieu of the main event, the university announced it would hold a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On Sunday, police officers cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment from the campus for the second time, according to the New York Times.
Currently under the microscope is George Washington University in the nation’s capital. After repeated calls for help from law enforcement to clear the encampments, the school’s president Ellen M. Granberg sent an open letter to the university community Sunday reiterating the need for assistance from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department.
“At GW, our commitment remains to regain and maintain the safety and security of University Yard, pursue accountability for those who have destroyed university property and harassed our community, and return our university to normal operations,” said the letter.
“This includes, of course, allowing and promoting the free exercise of various viewpoints and means of expression by members of our community within the limits of university policies. We continue to ask for the full support of our partners, including the District of Columbia, in pursuing these aims.”
House Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are expected to bring Washington Mayor Muriel Elizabeth Bowser and the district’s police chief to testify before a hearing on May 8 over the protests.
“The House Oversight Committee is deeply concerned over reports indicating the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department rejected George Washington University’s request for help in removing the radical, antisemitic, and unlawful protestors occupying the campus and surrounding public lands,” said Chairman Rep. James Comer of Kentucky.
The letter from Granberg is likely to add fuel to the fire for the committee members as Congress continues to respond to the ongoing turmoil on college campuses.