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Tell us: Should commencement speakers mention campus protests?
As graduation season unfolds, commencement speakers must decide whether or not to mention campus protests and the war in Gaza. What’s your take?
Graduation season has arrived, with soon-to-be graduates at local colleges set to celebrate the culmination of their academic accomplishments at graduation ceremonies in the coming weeks.
For commencement speakers, nerves are likely running high as the war in Gaza and campus protests remain top of mind at many institutions.
Commencement speakers are faced with a tough decision: Mention the war in Gaza and the unrest on campuses across the country or stick to a simple congratulatory message.
It’s a balancing act that Martin Dobrow, a Springfield College professor and the school’s commencement speaker for the graduation ceremony on Sunday, is currently juggling.
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“These are important times, and I think it is important to meet the moment, and this is something that we really want to ask of young people,” Dobrow told The Boston Globe. This includes talking about the war and protests, even if his campus has not had a large protest.
Dobrow said he also wants to make sure he’s preparing graduates about to take the next big step in life: “I think the key question is making sure that young people are educating themselves as deeply as they can, considering these issues very carefully, [and] seeking out viewpoints that might be opposed to their initial” point of view, he told the Globe.
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Contrasting points of view have come to a head across college campuses in the last month, when encampments of pro-Palestinian student protesters first emerged around the country, including at several prominent Boston-area universities.
As of Tuesday, May 7, protesters at MIT and Harvard University were occupying outdoor spaces on their campuses to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and to demand the schools cut ties with Israeli companies and the Israeli military. MIT’s graduation ceremony is set for May 30 and Harvard’s for May 23.
Some universities that have already held their graduation ceremonies, like Northeastern University, have seen the contentious issue flare up.
The school’s undergraduate commencement on May 5 was briefly interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester and one graduating student was arrested by police after he left his seat and yelled at administrators early in the ceremony, according to the Globe.
The commencement speaker for Northeastern, David A. Thomas, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, did not directly address the protests during his speech at Fenway Park. He included only a brief reference to the conflict: “Today we see a world challenged by war, by antisemitism, by islamophobia, by climate and inequality.”
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Some schools, such as Concord Academy, have come under scrutiny for selecting, then back-tracking on their choice for commencement speaker.
Boston’s poet laureate, Porsha Olayiwola, who was initially slated to be Concord Academy’s commencement speaker, was later replaced by Alexandra Berzon, a New York Times reporter and 1997 graduate of the school.
Olayiwola told the Globe she “didn’t have any proof as to why they removed me, but I had an educated guess, which is my politics.” Olayiwola is active on X, formerly Twitter, and has retweeted several posts expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
We want to know: Should commencement speakers mention the war in Gaza and campus protests?
Do they have a responsibility to acknowledge the conflict and divisions on campus? Should they avoid the subject altogether? How do you think they should handle it?
Tell us by filling out the form or e-mailing us at [email protected], and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article.
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