Graduates disrupted City College of New York commencement on Friday, capping off a rocky semester that featured a pro-Palestine encampment and mass arrests on the Harlem campus that strained ties between students and the administration.
Dozens of students wearing keffiyehs walked out of the ceremony, onlookers said, and hecklers disrupted the pomp and circumstance.
Between the traditional letter-shaped balloons spelling out “CONGRATS” and “WAY TO GO, GRAD,” protesters hung banners calling for divestment from Israel.
“It would probably be disingenuous not to acknowledge the difficult times we find ourselves in today,” City College President Vince Boudreau said at the start of his remarks on the South Campus Great Lawn.
Shouts and boos from the audience accused him and other officials in the City University of New York system of “genocide” in Gaza.
“Let me ask you in the back, can you hear me?” Boudreau said over the heckling. “Ladies and gentlemen, students, this graduation is for you. You’ve traveled to come here. You’ve struggled to reach your graduation day. We will celebrate your achievement without interruption.”
Cops in riot gear at the request of the college arrested more than 170 protesters at the end of April after they erected a Gaza solidarity encampment to demand divestment from Israel.
For many of the 2024 graduates, their college experience was plagued by interruptions. Many began their freshman year online during the pandemic and were forced back online following April’s police raid when the school again shifted to remote learning. On May 13, college officials announced classes and exams would resume as normal for the last three days of the semester.
After the tent city sweep, Boudreau attributed the protests to outsiders ratcheting up tensions on the open campus, a claim that student protesters have denied. CUNY data showed about 60 percent of those arrested had no active affiliation with the school, although they may have included alumni.
At a budget hearing in May, school officials testified that damages and heightened safety measures at City College cost the cash-strapped university system about $3 million, including funds for extra security at graduation.
“For the leadership of this college, myself included, we have tried to balance our respect for the right to protest with the task of keeping each and every member of our community safe,” Boudreau said during his graduation remarks.
“By arresting your students?” a protester shouted.
City College prohibited any language on graduation caps “perceived to be diminishing or slandering” and any signs and flags “that may disrupt the ceremony or other’s ability to view or hear the ceremony,” according to school rules.
This spring, graduations around the country have been roiled by pro-Palestine demonstrations and disruptions. In New York, a social work graduate student at Columbia University in zip-ties tore a diploma folder on stage, while the school’s main commencement was cancelled.
Dozens of protesters at New York University stormed out of Yankee Stadium as the college president spoke, and CUNY Law students led a call-and-response during the ceremony over the school’s decision to cancel student speakers before walking out.
