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University of Southern California Cancels Student’s Graduation Speech

Image source, Asna Tabassum

Overview of the Situation

USC cited “substantial risks” to campus security in the decision to halt the Muslim student’s address. But Asna Tabassum said she was the target of “a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice”.

Ms Tabassum is the 2024 valedictorian, a student picked out for high academic scores and involvement in campus life. The decision to cancel her speech came after claims that her social media activity was antisemitic. A debate about free speech on US college campuses has intensified since the Israel-Gaza war erupted last October.

Ms Tabassum’s Instagram account links to a website that criticises Israel and calls for its “complete abolishment”, instead arguing for a “one-state solution… in which both Arabs and Jews can live together”. The website also claims that “Zionism is a racist settler-colonial ideology that advocates for a Jewish ethnostate built on Palestinian land”. Pro-Israel groups called for the university to reconsider her selection as valedictorian.

In a statement on Monday, Ms Tabassum said she was “shocked” and “profoundly disappointed” by the university’s decision. “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,” she wrote. “By cancelling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred,” added Ms Tabassum.

Ms Tabassum later told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that she had not been presented evidence for the security fears. She added that she would not apologise for her activity on Instagram, but clarified she was “committed to human rights for all people”.

In an email to campus on Monday, Andrew Guzman, the provost and senior vice-president for academic affairs, said the decision was necessary for “campus security and safety” at the graduation event, which draws around 65,000 people.

“The intensity of feelings, fuelled 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,” Mr Guzman wrote.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for Ms Tabassum’s reinstatement as a speaker, and criticised the university by saying it “cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for security”.

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