Harvard graduation turns into anti Israel show
13 students were unable to graduate because of the punishments for involvement in the protest encampment established on April 24, said Harvard
Hundreds of anti-Israel student and guest activists stormed out of the Harvard University graduation commencement on Thursday to protest on behalf of 13 encampment demonstrators who were unable to graduate due to disciplinary actions against them.
The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) coalition claimed that over a thousand activists walked out of the ceremonies to march to the Harvard-Epworth Church, where they held a “people’s commencement” to honor 23 students allegedly placed on multi-semester probation and 5 students who had been suspended.
Harvard said in a Wednesday statement that 13 students were unable to graduate because of the punishments for involvement in the protest encampment established on April 24, in contrast to previous statements by the suspended Harvard Palestinian Solidarity Committee that 15 students had been denied degrees.
“Each of these students has been found by the College’s Administrative Board — the body established by the FAS faculty to investigate and adjudicate disciplinary matters — to have violated the University’s policies by their conduct during their participation in the recent encampment in Harvard Yard,” said the Harvard Corporation.
The Harvard encampment, established after an April 20 call to action by National Students for Justice in Palestine to emulate Columbia University’s campus occupation, sought like the others of its movement for institutions to end financial and academic ties to Israel.
