Backlash as USC cancels valedictorian’s speech due to support for Palestine

Cair declares University of Southern California ‘cowardly’ for prohibiting Asna Tabassum from speaking at graduation

The University of Southern California is facing intense backlash for their decision to prohibit the graduating class’s valedictorian from speaking at May’s commencement ceremony after she posted messages of support for Palestine on a social media account.

In a missive to the USC community, the university’s provost, Andrew Guzman, wrote that the Los Angeles university took the unprecedented step of canceling Asna Tabassum’s planned speech because the “alarming tenor” of reactions to her selection as valedictorian – along with “the intensity of feelings” surrounding Israel’s ongoing military strikes in Gaza – had created “substantial risks relating to security”.