One day after nearly 100 people were arrested following pro-Palestinian protests on campus, USC administrators have canceled the “main stage” commencement ceremony next month, citing “new safety measures.”
The main graduation ceremony was planned for Friday, May 10, at Alumni Park, the same location where Wednesday’s demonstrations by pro-Palestinian students and other groups took place.
Instead, tickets will be required for people to attend other commencement activities and ceremonies, which will be held at the same time that Friday morning.
“With the new safety measures in place this year, the time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially,” administrators wrote in a campus-wide message Thursday. “As a result, we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus all at the same time and during a short window from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.”
The message continued, “We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC, including places to gather with family, friends, faculty, and staff, the celebratory releasing of the doves, and performances by the Trojan Marching Band.”
The university will also continue to hold “dozens” of smaller commencement events and receptions during Commencement Week, between May 8 and 11 — including the traditional individual school ceremonies, in which graduates are announced, and can walk across the stage to receive their diplomas.
“To ensure we host commencement activities and celebrate our graduates safely, we will be implementing additional security measures,” according to the university’s message. “These include ticketing of all commencement events taking place on May 8-11 and directing all campus access through specific points of entry.”
Graduating students can reserve free tickets for themselves and up to eight named guests. The tickets will not be transferrable, and there will be an appeal process if more tickets are needed, the message said.
A “clear bag policy” will also be in place at all commencement events.
“Prior to entering commencement events, we will screen people and bags, using security measures similar to those for attending athletic events at the Coliseum and before entering many other large venues,” according to the university.
Details of the ticketing process would be posted online by Tuesday, April 30, officials said. Information on parking, ADA accommodations, safety measures and the expected code of conduct are available at USC’s 2024 Commencement website.
The cancellation of the school’s 141st main graduation ceremony was met with mixed emotional reactions. Online, some noted that many of these graduates also missed their 2020 ceremonies in-person, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Others said many students were “robbed” of a fair college experience, and demanded USC refund tuition.
Class of 2024 graduate Katherine Wedekind, 21, was “shocked” to hear about the commencement news. She said that, after not being able to have a high school graduation due to COVID, her USC graduation also being canceled was “a blow.”
“I couldn’t believe it — I just never thought this was even a possibility,” said Wedekind, who will receive an undergraduate degree in health and human sciences and a Master’s degree in health administration this May. “We’re also the only school going through a canceled graduation because of these protests so far. It definitely feels like deja vu, and is bringing up a lot of the same pain of a past major life event being canceled for me.”
Wedekind said she hopes her school will take the backlash seriously, and reverse some of the decisions they have made that’s already caused a media storm.
“I think (USC) administration has been rushing decisions that are really rash, without thinking about the impact,” she noted. “These decisions keep building off the previous ones, making the situation worse and worse.”
Ed Hasan, a class of 2018 alum, said he was “embarrassed to be affiliated” with USC following its announcement. Canceling the main graduation, he said, is “ridiculous and disappointing.”
“They’re taking away a very special moment — a USC graduation is a different feeling,” Hasan said. “It would break my heart if that were me or one of my kids… USC’s actions just don’t add up to me.”
The news came a day after police said 93 people were arrested on campus, following the daylong occupation by hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters and supporters at Alumni Park. LAPD said Wednesday that the activists were arrested for ignoring repeated orders to disperse the area.
The actions join a growing student-led movement across college campuses nationwide that seeks to have schools support a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Organizers of Wednesday’s occupation had planned to camp in the park and stay there until police broke up the encampment that night. They demanded USC divest from Israeli-tied organizations, cancel Israeli study-abroad programs, and issue a statement calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest — which attendees say started peacefully but soon escalated — was also fueled in part by USC’s recent decision to prevent valedictorian Asna Tabassum, a Chino Hills resident, from speaking at the main commencement ceremony, following complaints about Tabassum’s online posts that critics called antisemitic, including a call for the abolition of Israel.
The activists involved in Wednesday’s demonstration were both students and non-students, according to police and school officials.
USC Provost Andrew Guzman announced the decision earlier this month to bar Tabassum from speaking at commencement, insisting it was strictly a public safety decision, not a political one. Guzman stated the school’s decision to cancel the speech in no way diminishes “the remarkable academic achievements of any student considered or selected for valedictorian.”
Guzman’s message did not go into details, but cited unnamed threats that came in shortly after her valedictorian announcement, according to reports.
“Because of USC’s size and scale, commencement week is also the most challenging time of the year for our Department of Public Safety personnel, who work tirelessly and effectively to keep our campuses the safe places that they are,” the provost wrote.
USC students, faculty members and outside groups, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Los Angeles and the ACLU of Southern California, denounced the move, with many backing growing calls to “let Tabassum speak.”
In her statement, Tabassum said that what “should have been a time of celebration” has been overshadowed by controversy.
“This campaign to prevent me from addressing my peers at commencement has evidently accomplished its goal: today, USC administrators informed me that the university will no longer allow me to speak at commencement due to supposed security concerns,” Tabassum stated.
A statement by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles called the events happening on college campuses “simply disturbing.”
“Our Federation values peaceful civic discourse and free speech, but the vitriol, violence, and antisemitism we are witnessing are unacceptable… right now, Jewish students do not feel safe on campus. Instead, campuses are lightning rods for the conflict in the Middle East, drawing non-student agitators as well as students to foment a threatening campus climate,” wrote JFEDLA board chair Orna Wolens and President Rabbi Noah Farkas. “When protests escalate to the point of endangering students, steps must be taken to restore safety.”
With community tensions continuing to build, USC announced last week that it was “redesigning the commencement program,” and the May 10 ceremony would no longer include any outside speakers or honorees. Filmmaker Jon M. Chu had been scheduled to be the main speaker during the event. Four honorary degrees were expected to be presented to Chu, National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, tennis legend Billie Jean King and National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt.
The university said it will “confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”
Katherine Wedekind — who is graduating in May — said that as an Asian American, she was really looking forward to hearing Chu, who directed the box-office hit “Crazy Rich Asians,” speak at commencement.
“It’s one of my favorite movies, and having that speaker come and give us insight into the next steps at graduation would have been a really cool experience,” she said. “I think it’s likely that a lot of these speakers backed out due to the blowback around the issue, but I’m definitely bummed about not having a chance to hear (Chu) speak.”
Early Thursday, a similar pro-Palestinian, student-led encampment was growing in front of UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Also on Thursday, members of USC’s Advisory Committee on Muslim Life — convened by university President Carol Folt in spring 2023 to support Muslim students, faculty and staff — resigned from their positions in solidarity with Tabassum.
“In barring Asna’s valedictorian speech Muslims on campus have received a clear message: their university will not stand by them if they merely seem likely to speak out against genocide, let alone standing by Palestinians who are undergoing a genocide,” committee members said in a joint statement.
City News Service contributed to this report.
