This year’s class of graduating college students has some pretty bad luck. After missing out on their high school graduation four years ago due to unscientific Covid lockdowns, many of these same students are at risk of losing their college commencement because of the ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations that are plaguing campuses across the country.
In fact, it’s already happening at institutions such as the University of Southern California (USC), which announced plans late last week to cancel its main-stage commencement ceremony for graduating seniors. According to The New York Times, “The university said that it could not host the ceremony, which was scheduled for May 10, because of new safety measures that would have increased the amount of time needed on the day to process the 65,000 students and guests who usually attend.”
The school will, however, host a series of individual “school ceremonies,” where students “cross the stage, have their names announced, are photographed and receive their diplomas.”
Like many prominent American universities, USC has been a staging ground for left-wing anarchists demonstrating against Israel and its response to Hamas’ horrific Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which left roughly 1,200 civilians dead. The formation of an unauthorized encampment on university grounds led to the arrests of 93 people last week, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Speaking about USC’s main-stage commencement cancellation, one purported student said in a recorded video that she is “in shock” the college would make such a decision, especially given how many of this year’s graduates were also denied a high school commencement due to Covid restrictions.
“We, as a whole senior class, have never had a real graduation,” she said. “We’ve all worked so hard to get here … and now they just canceled our freaking graduation.”
To be sure, college leaders having to grapple with antisemitic leftists and illegal encampments deserve no sympathy. These administrators have endorsed and pushed anti-Westernism and Marxist ideology in these universities for years. The pro-Hamas cultural revolutions now engulfing their college “safe spaces” are monsters of their own creation.
But not every student attending these universities endorses these ideologies or backs the demonstrations. By refusing to enforce the law and punish the unlawful conduct of these anarchists, universities are robbing graduates of the opportunity to have their hard work publicly acknowledged and celebrated.
Graduation — whether for high school or college — is a big moment for families. For students, it’s a recognition of the years of studying and research it took to get to that moment. It similarly acknowledges the role of parents in raising their children and providing them the skills necessary to acquire a degree.
Attending graduation may not be every student’s cup of tea. And that’s OK. But taking away students’ opportunity to participate in such a celebration because university leadership is unwilling to punish lawbreaking by unruly leftists is not.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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