In a decision that the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights organization called “cowardly,” the University of Southern California announced Monday that it would not allow a Muslim valedictorian to speak at its commencement ceremony, citing safety concerns.
USC’s 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, is a first-generation South Asian Muslim student majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor in resistance to genocide. Her selection as valedictorian drew criticism from pro-Israel groups because of a link pasted into her Instagram profile that advocates for a single Palestinian state where “both Arabs and Jews can live together without an ideology that specifically advocates for the ethnic cleansing of one of them.”
“This campaign to prevent me from addressing my peers at commencement has evidently accomplished its goal: Today, USC administrators informed me that the university will no longer allow me to speak at commencement due to supposed security concerns,” Tabassum said in a statement. “I am both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the university is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice.”
“I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred,” Tabassum continued. “I am surprised that my own university — my home for four years — has abandoned me.”
In announcing the university’s decision, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Andrew Guzman said that, in recent days, “discussion relating to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor.”
Several groups had called for Tabassum’s removal as valedictorian entirely because they argued the link that she shared, a slideshow titled “Free Palestine,” was antisemitic.
“Trojans for Israel strongly supports the right to free expression — including informed criticism of the Israeli government. However, rhetoric that denies the right of the Jewish people to self-determination or calls for the destruction of the only Jewish state in........