Hundreds of students walked out of Harvard University’s commencement ceremony on Thursday morning as degrees were conferred, while hundreds chanted “Let them walk!”, a reference to 13 student protesters who were not allowed to graduate after a vote Wednesday by the Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body.
The walkout was a jarring reminder of continuing unrest on the Cambridge campus, on a day when more than 9,000 graduates and their families were gathered in Harvard Yard for celebration and reflection.
At the start of the ceremony, the university’s interim president, Alan Garber — loudly booed by some in the crowd — acknowledged the turmoil, and the possibility that “some among us may choose to take the liberty of expressing themselves to draw attention to events unfolding in the wider world.”
“This moment of joy coincides with moments of fear and dread, grief and anger, suffering and pain,” he said. “Elsewhere, people are experiencing the worst days of their lives.” He asked the crowd to observe a minute of silence.
Student speakers at the ceremony strongly criticized the Harvard Corporation for its vote on Wednesday to bar the 13 undergraduate protesters from receiving their degrees in the wake of campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. The move was seen by the students and their faculty supporters as a violation of an agreement made between administrators and students to clear their encampment from Harvard Yard.
@ContentPieDemocrat4wks4W
Sad for Harvard students who came to the university to study, do research, meet new people, participate in sports, the arts and clubs, get an internship then a job. That’s what college is for. Not to be bombarded by overly politicized campus culture and people screaming through bullhorns night and day, protesting and acting with cult like behaviors.
They are not there to see the world for what it is but to learn how to be productive American citizens and contribute! How dare they challenge power structures or ask questions about the discrepancies they see and experience. The last thing we want is for them to actually question anything and show critical thinking skills.
Not a jarring reminder of campus unrest-- a jarring reminder of every university in Gaza destroyed, thousands of children and babies killed, and it continuing as we speak
@RatifiedJonnyForward4wks4W
Free speech and civil disobedience are very different issues these folks do not grasp.
Everyone deserves their right to free speech. But civil disobedience comes with potential consequences. They should have thought of this. It's too late to whine and cry about it.
As a young man watching the Vietnam protests in the 1960s, I believed the people in the streets were just having a 'party' with anger as the theme. I misread everything. Now, in my late 70s, I take notice that the young people may be bringing something to my attention that I need to look at carefully--not disdainfully.
@PanickyTreatyDemocrat4wks4W
Many protestors in the 60's had a very real chance of being drafted, sent to Viet Nam, and dying a horrible death. You may think those protestors were there for the party - just as some folks feel today's protestors are there more for the consequence-free performance than anything else.
@AboardMeerkatDemocrat4wks4W
I have several employees with spouses who returned to Israel to volunteer or serve. By contrast, not a single one of these cosplaying protestors will do a thing to aid Gaza beyond their virtue-signaling. They have, however, achieved demotivating alumni (such as myself) from ever donating to the university in the future.
@LeftLanePeytonGreen4wks4W
These students are America’s moral voices. Many of the older generation have lost it.
So these students cut gate locks, destroying university property, then they intimidate students and staff and disrupt the campus altogether. And they should be given a pass when all other Harvard students who violate rules have the full book thrown at them. Why should these particular rule breakers be given a pass when everyone else isn't?
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