National News
The University of Southern California said it has canceled plans for a commencement speech by this 12 months's valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, who’s Muslim. The school said the choice was resulting from security concerns after several pro-Israel groups objected to its social media posts supporting Palestinians.
The decision immediately drew criticism from the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in addition to Tabassum, a biomedical engineering student.
“I am both shocked by this decision and deeply disappointed that the university is succumbing to a hate campaign designed to silence my voice,” Tabassum wrote in a press release. She has identified as a first-generation American of South Asian descent.
Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, free speech controversies have plagued many universities. University officials have had to interact in heated debates over pro-Palestinian student protests, which many Jewish students and alumni say often descend into anti-Semitism. Protesters say the pushback is an try and censor their political views.
USC's decision to cancel the speech was announced Monday by Andrew Guzman, the principal, who said he made the ultimate decision to decide on Tabassum.
“In recent days, the discussion about the selection of our valedictorian has taken on a troubling tone,” Guzman wrote. “The intensity of sentiment, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has spread to many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of initially creating significant security risks and disruptions.”
Guzman acknowledged that the choice to cancel a valedictory speech violated university tradition, adding, “To be clear, this decision has nothing to do with freedom of expression. There is no right to freedom of expression at a hearing.”
The university, a personal institution, didn’t immediately respond Tuesday when asked whether it had received a reputable threat.
Tabassum couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. In a written statement released on her behalf, she questioned the university's motivation. “Serious doubts remain as to whether USC’s decision to revoke my invitation to speak was made solely for security reasons,” she wrote.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization, released a press release condemning the choice to cancel the speech as “cowardly” and demanding that USC reverse it.
The university announced April 5 that Tabassum, a native of Chino Hills, Calif., can be the 2024 class valedictorian. She was chosen from greater than 200 students who met the tutorial qualifications – a grade point average of at the very least 3.98. From this group, a range committee of college members evaluated greater than 100 applicants.
The announcement of Tabassum's selection cited her volunteer work with nonprofits within the Los Angeles area, including a mobile blood pressure clinic that visits homeless shelters and a gaggle she co-founded that distributes medical supplies to needy areas world wide.
Shortly after the announcement, a campus group called Trojans for Israel released a press release saying that Tabassum “openly spreads anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.” It quoted her social media bio, which included a link to a page that calls Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology.” The group called on University President Carol Folt to reconsider Tabassum's selection.
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