Solidarity with Palestine: Students Walk Out in Protest at Stanford University Graduation
The move caps a tumultuous year on campus rocked by protests related to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Videos circulating on social media show a trickle of students, many waving kaffiyehs and Palestinian flags, get up from their chairs as Stanford President Richard Saller delivers his speech to the graduating class. Within minutes, hundreds can be seen streaming out of the stadium.
The walkout was planned by a pro-Palestinian student group, which had encouraged students to leave the formal ceremony and instead go to a “People’s Commencement” at a different location.
“We invite graduates, friends, and family to walk out of commencement ... to show support for divestment and honor Palestine this graduation weekend,” the group wrote on Instagram.
Standing on a makeshift podium, a speaker at the alternative ceremony called the walkout a “final act of protest.”
“You have made history with a record-breaking sit-in and a beautiful encampment,” the speaker told the relocated crowd. “Today, you are graduating with a head held high.”
The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stanford has been rocked by protests this year led by students furious over mounting casualties of innocent Palestinians. This month, campus police arrested 13 pro-Palestinian protesters, made up of students and alumni, who had barricaded themselves inside the president’s office. The university said at the time that the students involved were suspended and that seniors were told they could not graduate.
Last year, protesters set up a large encampment on campus, which became the longest sit-in in Stanford history. Administrators banned camping in February “out of concern for the health and safety of our students.” Activists set up another encampment at the same plaza in April.
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At least 37,296 people have been killed and 85,197 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.
More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that 50,000 children in Gaza require immediate treatment for acute malnutrition.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
Source: Latimes.com
