Harvard students walked out of commencement today and turned the day into a protest for Palestine because multiple students weren’t allowed to graduate as a punishment for protesting.
“Harvard University, we know which side you’re on. Remember South Africa, remember Vietnam.” pic.twitter.com/s4y1tOwHn3
— Read Let This Radicalize You (@JoshuaPHilll) May 23, 2024
BREAKING: Hundreds of Harvard students and faculty have walked out of commencement in support of Palestine and the 15 seniors having their degrees withheld for protesting a genocide. pic.twitter.com/D0lGKrmzvq
— Harvard Undergrad Palestine Solidarity Committee (@HarvxrdPSC) May 23, 2024
They are never going to allow anyone to free Palestine because they say the Jews had their shoes thrown in a big pile by Adolf Hitler.
These kids might as well just give up on that dream.
A shoe pile trumps tens of thousands of dead children every single time.
AP:
Hundreds of students in graduation robes walked out of the Harvard commencement on Thursday chanting “Free, free Palestine” after weeks of protests on campus and a day after the school announced that 13 Harvard students who participated in a protest encampment would not be able to receive diplomas alongside their classmates.
Some students chanted “Let them walk, let them walk” during Thursday’s commencement, referring to allowing those 13 students to get their diplomas along with fellow graduates.
Student speaker Shruthi Kumar said “this semester our freedom of speech and our expressions of solidarity became punishable,” she said to cheers and applause.
She said she had to recognize “the 13 undergraduates in the class of 2024 who will not graduate today,” generating prolonged cheers and clapping from graduates. “I am deeply disappointed by the intolerance for freedom of speech and the right to civil disobedience on campus.”
Over 1,500 students had petitioned, and nearly 500 staff and faculty had spoken up, all over the sanctions, she said.
“This is about civil rights and upholding democratic principles,” she said. “The students had spoken. The faculty had spoken. Harvard do you hear us?”
Those in the encampment had called for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Harvard to divest from companies that support the war.
Commencement speaker Maria Ressa, a journalist and advocate for freedom of the press, told the graduates that “you don’t know who you are until you’re tested, until you fight for what you believe in. Because that defines who you are.”
“The campus protests are testing everyone in America. Protests are healthy. They shouldn’t be violent. They shouldn’t be silenced,” she said.
Yo, Maria Ressa, hit me up.
I also have a press freedom problem.
Students at Harvard University continue their protests in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/E2pSoHJhN7
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) May 23, 2024
I keep calling Larry Bird to try to get him to help me, but he won’t take my calls.
His secretary just hangs up on me now.