USC: University cancels all outside graduation ceremony speakers after controversy

A protest march was held on Thursday on USC campus

The University of Southern California (USC) has cancelled outside speakers for this year's graduation ceremony.

It follows controversy surrounding the cancellation of the university's valedictorian speech, due to be given by Muslim student Asna Tabassum.

Last week, USC said her speech should not go ahead due to security concerns, after complaints that her social media presence was antisemitic.

The latest announcement will see the cancellation of all keynote speakers.

In a statement, the university says its leadership had decided "it is best to release outside speakers and honourees from attending this year's ceremony".

It said that it was "redesigning" the programme to keep the focus on USC graduates, adding that the decision had been taken after considering the "highly publicised circumstances" surrounding the main-stage commencement programme.

Those "circumstances" allude to the university's decision on Monday to announce that Ms Tabassum would no longer be permitted to deliver a speech as valedictorian, due to unspecified security threats.

The valedictorian speech is given by a student picked out for high academic scores and involvement in campus life.

Pro-Israel and Jewish groups objected to her selection, citing a link Ms Tabassum posted on her Instagram for a website that the groups said spreads antisemitism.

The website says that "Zionism is a racist settler-colonialist ideology", and "one Palestinian state would mean Palestinian liberation and the complete abolishment of the state of Israel" so that "both Arabs and Jews can live together".

Ms Tabassum told US media that by cancelling her speech, USC betrayed her as it caved in to "a campaign of hatred".

• USC tense after valedictorian speech cancelled

Both her supporters and opponents have voiced their objection to the USC move, saying it stifled free speech.

USC's academic head Andrew Guzman said that the decision had "nothing to do with freedom of speech". He said that the security concerns related to "the ongoing conflict in the Middle East".

Tensions have been high on US campuses over Israel's continued military campaign in Gaza.

Muslim and pro-Palestinian students rejected the university's security argument, saying USC administrators bowed to pressure from pro-Israel organisations.

The USC announcement follows a campus protest on Thursday attended by hundreds of students.

The decision will see the cancellation of keynote speaker, filmmaker Jon M. Chu - who was expected to speak on 10 May, and other guests including tennis star Billie Jean King who were set to receive honorary degrees.

In March, the university had announced that Mr Chu, a USC alumnus and director of the popular "Crazy Rich Asians," would deliver the commencement speech at its main-stage ceremony, which draws over 65,000 attendees.

In its statement, the university said that the celebration of its own "remarkable graduates" would reflect "the unity we love so much".

US media reported that following the announcement, many students were walking around the campus on Friday looking surprised and confused.

A USC student, Franco Gutierrez, told LA Times, the move was "awful" and "heartbreaking", adding, "I didn't think that is how they'd respond to the protest".

Elsewhere, police in New York on Thursday arrested more than 100 students as they cleared a pro-Palestinian protest on Columbia University campus.