On Thursday, May 23rd, hundreds of students walked out of Harvard’s graduation ceremony in solidarity with 13 graduates who were denied their diplomas due to their involvement in a pro-Palestinian encampment on Harvard Yard.
“Let them walk!” chanted students, faculty, and family members, standing up and leaving their seats as interim Harvard President Alan Garber began awarding diplomas to the graduating students.
This protest walkout was a response to Harvard’s decision on Wednesday regarding the fate of the student demonstrators. Harvard had voted to prohibit 13 students from receiving their diplomas, despite support from faculty members who believed the demonstrators should not be barred from graduating.
In a statement on Wednesday, Harvard said it could not “responsibly vote” to award diplomas to students who were not currently in good standing with the university.
Out of 9.262 students, over 1.000 people walked out of the university’s commencement ceremony.
The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, wore keffiyehs, and chanted as they exited the gates. Led by organizers from Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, the group marched along Cambridge Street to Epworth Church to hold a “people’s commencement,” supporting the 13 students and discussing the continuation of the pro-Palestinian movement at the university.
“Every act of injustice this administration commits only makes the movement bigger, louder, and stronger,” said Rabea Eghbariah, a doctoral student at Harvard Law School, delivering the closing speech of the ceremony at Epworth Church.
Multiple student speakers honored at the official commencement delivered similar pro-Palestine messages and criticisms of the administration in their remarks.
In his pre-walkout speech, Garber acknowledged the possibility of protests during the event, urging protestors to act with “community and opportunity in mind.”
Earlier in the day, planes flew over the school with the message “Jewish Lives Matter. US.” and an Israeli flag, while a doxing truck reportedly drove around campus displaying the faces and names of pro-Palestinian student protestors and the words “Harvard’s Leading Anti-Semites.”
Photo: Times Now
