Amid valedictorian protest, USC scrubs outside commencement speakers, honorees

Following uproar over the decision to bar valedictorian Asna Tabassum from speaking during this year’s commencement ceremony, USC announced Friday that it is “redesigning the commencement program,” and it will no longer include any outside speakers or honorees.

Filmmaker Jon M. Chu had been scheduled to be the main commencement speaker during the May 10 event. 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 says it will “confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”

“Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony,” according to a message sent to the USC community Friday afternoon. “We’ve been talking to this exceptional group and hope to confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”

The message stated: “This year, more than ever, it is important to keep the focus on celebrating our graduates and their accomplishments, and our belief in their capacity to change the world that awaits them.”

RELATED: USC cancels Muslim valedictorian’s commencement speech, citing safety concerns

“… It is important that our full attention be on our remarkable graduates. We will be celebrating their accomplishments in a way that reflects the unity we love so much about our Trojan Family. In addition to a memorable main-stage ceremony, we also will be hosting the 38 satellite ceremonies, five celebrations, and 65 receptions, featuring dozens of students, other internal and external speakers and performers.”

Additional details about the commencement ceremony are expected to be released next week.

The university made headlines Monday when Provost Andrew Guzman announced that Tabassum would not be permitted to speak at the commencement ceremony, despite being named valedictorian. The move came following complaints about some of her social media postings that were condemned by critics as antisemitic and supporting the “abolishment” of Israel.

Guzman said the decision was based solely on security concerns, saying the uproar over Tabassum had taken on “an alarming tenor.”

But the decision drew quick condemnation from groups including the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Los Angeles, which deemed the decision “cowardly.” CAIR-LA officials said Wednesday that a petition it initiated calling for USC to reverse its decision had received 38,000 signatures within 48 hours.

On Thursday, hundreds of people — including students and some university staff — took part in a march and rally on the USC campus to protest the move.

In a statement Thursday, ACLU of Southern California staff attorney Mohammad Tajsar said the university has had no problem arranging security for other high-profile speeches.

“If the university can accommodate speeches by Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos and host President Obama and the king of Jordan at its graduations, surely it can bear whatever burden comes with celebrating Asna Tabassum as its valedictorian,” Tajsar said.

“Rather than soothing the anxious and mollifying the hecklers, USC should reverse its decision and recommit to the protection of academic speech and intellectual thought, uncomfortable and challenging as it may be.”

Tabassum said in a statement that “anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all.”

“… I am both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the university is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice,” she said. “I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred. I am surprised that my own university — my home for four years — has abandoned me.”

Guzman insisted in his message that the decision to not allow her to speak in no way diminished “the remarkable academic achievements of any student considered or selected for valedictorian. To be clear: this decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech. There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement. The issue here is how best to maintain campus security and safety, period.”

He added, “The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing 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. We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”

Source: Orange County Register