USC Cancels commencement Speech Of Its Valedictorian
Wall Street Journal
The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech of its valedictorian, a Muslim student, citing what it described as security concerns amid the conflict in the Middle East.
In a letter published Monday to the USC community, Provost Andrew Guzman said discussion over the selection of the school’s valedictorian “has taken on an alarming tenor” in recent days. Asna Tabassum, USC’s 2024 valedictorian, was slated to deliver a speech at the university’s 141st commencement ceremony on May 10.
Since her selection as valedictorian, pro-Israel groups and social-media accounts, both on campus and from outside USC, have urged the university to reconsider. They have said Tabassum promoted antisemitic and anti-Israel views.
Tabassum said she is shocked by the university’s decision. She said she wasn’t aware of specific threats against herself or the university.
“By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred,” Tabassum said in a statement she released through the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles.
She said the university didn’t give her details on its threat assessment.
Tensions on university campuses over the Middle East conflict have escalated after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Presidents at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have resigned in part due to their responses to rising levels of antisemitism on campus.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik is set to testify Wednesday before a congressional committee about efforts to curb rising antisemitism on campus. In an essay published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, Shafik said reconciling speech rights among some students with the right for their classmates to live “free of fear, harassment and discrimination, has been the central challenge at our university and on campuses across the country.”
In his statement, Guzman said the decision to cancel the speech “has nothing to do with freedom of speech. There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement.”
Guzman said Tabassum, a biomedical engineering major, wouldn’t deliver a speech due to risks related to security and disruption at the ceremony. About 65,000 people attend USC’s main-stage commencement, he said.
The decision was consistent with USC’s legal obligations to protect students and keep the campus community safe, he said.
Nearly 100 qualifying students applied to be this year’s valedictorian, Guzman said. He made the final decision based on the selection committee’s recommendation, he added, noting the evaluation was based on various criteria, which didn’t include social-media presence.
Pro-Israel groups had pointed to Tabassum’s social media, including likes and engagement with pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist content. Her Instagram profile includes a link to a site that references Palestinian liberation and the abolishment of the state of Israel.
“USC has a responsibility to explain to its student body why it selected a valedictorian who promotes antisemitic views,” said We Are Tov, a group that advocates against antisemitism, in an Instagram post last week. “Tov” means good in Hebrew. “It’s time to pick someone who doesn’t hate Jews.”
A campus group, Trojans for Israel, last week criticized the school as well. “This troubling selection turns an inclusive and meaningful milestone into an unwelcoming and intolerant environment for Jewish graduates and their families,” the group wrote on Instagram.
Tensions about the Israel-Hamas war have intensified on college campuses as well as in other areas of American life. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization, on Tuesday said there was an “unprecedented increase in antisemitic incidents” last year. CAIR has said it received the highest number of reports of anti-Muslim incidents last year in its 30-year history.
Guzman, the provost, in his letter referenced the role played by social media.
“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” he said.
“I expressed an opinion through a link that I had on my Instagram,” Tabassum said Tuesday evening in an interview with CNN. “The hate and vitriol that was unleashed towards me after, I think, was part of the reason why the university caved in.”
CAIR-LA, a Muslim advocacy group, demanded that USC reinstate Tabassum’s valedictorian speech.
“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security,’” Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-LA, said.
Guzman said the university this summer will reconsider how to honor the achievements of its graduating students. Many large universities have moved away from picking a single valedictorian in favor of more inclusive traditions, he said.
In her statement, Tabassum challenged her classmates to respond to “ideological discomfort with dialogue and learning, not bigotry and censorship” and called for support of justice for all, “including the Palestinian people.”
“As your class Valedictorian, I implore my USC classmates to think outside the box–to work towards a world where cries for equality and human dignity are not manipulated to be expressions of hatred,” she said.
The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech of its valedictorian, a Muslim student, citing what it described as security concerns amid the conflict in the Middle East.
In a letter published Monday to the USC community, Provost Andrew Guzman said discussion over the selection of the school’s valedictorian “has taken on an alarming tenor” in recent days. Asna Tabassum, USC’s 2024 valedictorian, was slated to deliver a speech at the university’s 141st commencement ceremony on May 10.
Since her selection as valedictorian, pro-Israel groups and social-media accounts, both on campus and from outside USC, have urged the university to reconsider. They have said Tabassum promoted antisemitic and anti-Israel views.
Tabassum said she is shocked by the university’s decision. She said she wasn’t aware of specific threats against herself or the university.
“By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred,” Tabassum said in a statement she released through the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles.
She said the university didn’t give her details on its threat assessment.
Tensions on university campuses over the Middle East conflict have escalated after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Presidents at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have resigned in part due to their responses to rising levels of antisemitism on campus.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik is set to testify Wednesday before a congressional committee about efforts to curb rising antisemitism on campus. In an essay published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, Shafik said reconciling speech rights among some students with the right for their classmates to live “free of fear, harassment and discrimination, has been the central challenge at our university and on campuses across the country.”
In his statement, Guzman said the decision to cancel the speech “has nothing to do with freedom of speech. There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement.”
Guzman said Tabassum, a biomedical engineering major, wouldn’t deliver a speech due to risks related to security and disruption at the ceremony. About 65,000 people attend USC’s main-stage commencement, he said.
The decision was consistent with USC’s legal obligations to protect students and keep the campus community safe, he said.
Nearly 100 qualifying students applied to be this year’s valedictorian, Guzman said. He made the final decision based on the selection committee’s recommendation, he added, noting the evaluation was based on various criteria, which didn’t include social-media presence.
Pro-Israel groups had pointed to Tabassum’s social media, including likes and engagement with pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist content. Her Instagram profile includes a link to a site that references Palestinian liberation and the abolishment of the state of Israel.
“USC has a responsibility to explain to its student body why it selected a valedictorian who promotes antisemitic views,” said We Are Tov, a group that advocates against antisemitism, in an Instagram post last week. “Tov” means good in Hebrew. “It’s time to pick someone who doesn’t hate Jews.”
A campus group, Trojans for Israel, last week criticized the school as well. “This troubling selection turns an inclusive and meaningful milestone into an unwelcoming and intolerant environment for Jewish graduates and their families,” the group wrote on Instagram.
Tensions about the Israel-Hamas war have intensified on college campuses as well as in other areas of American life. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization, on Tuesday said there was an “unprecedented increase in antisemitic incidents” last year. CAIR has said it received the highest number of reports of anti-Muslim incidents last year in its 30-year history.
Guzman, the provost, in his letter referenced the role played by social media.
“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” he said.
“I expressed an opinion through a link that I had on my Instagram,” Tabassum said Tuesday evening in an interview with CNN. “The hate and vitriol that was unleashed towards me after, I think, was part of the reason why the university caved in.”
CAIR-LA, a Muslim advocacy group, demanded that USC reinstate Tabassum’s valedictorian speech.
“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security,’” Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-LA, said.
Guzman said the university this summer will reconsider how to honor the achievements of its graduating students. Many large universities have moved away from picking a single valedictorian in favor of more inclusive traditions, he said.
In her statement, Tabassum challenged her classmates to respond to “ideological discomfort with dialogue and learning, not bigotry and censorship” and called for support of justice for all, “including the Palestinian people.”
“As your class Valedictorian, I implore my USC classmates to think outside the box–to work towards a world where cries for equality and human dignity are not manipulated to be expressions of hatred,” she said.
