The University of Southern California has been accused of “censorship” after canceling Asna Tabassum’s commencement address in the name of safety concerns.
s the University of Southern California’s Class of 2024 prepares to graduate next month, when some 65,000 people are expected to gather at the Los Angeles campus for its May 10 commencement ceremony, the school has sparked controversy over its cancellation on Monday of the undergraduate valedictorian’s planned speech amid concerns about her pro-Palestinian activism.
Tabassum also said she is doubtful of the official reason—safety concerns—given for her speech’s cancellation “because I am not aware of any specific threats against me or the university” and “because my request for the details underlying the university’s threat assessment has been denied.” Supporters of Tabassum have echoed her frustrations and accused USC of using safety as a pretext for censorship.
“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security,’” Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations , said in a. “The dishonest and defamatory attacks on Asna are nothing more than thinly-veiled manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, which have been weaponized against college students across the country who speak up for human rights—and for Palestinian humanity.
In his announcement of the cancellation of Tabassum’s valedictorian speech, Provost Guzman rejected that the decision had anything to do with freedom of speech. “While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety,” he said. “There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement. The issue here is how best to maintain campus security and safety, period.”TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
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