The University of Southern California has announced it has canceled plans for a commencement speech by this year’s valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, who is Muslim. The school said the decision stemmed from security concerns after several pro-Israel groups objected to her pro-Palestinian social media posts.
The decision drew immediate criticism from the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as Ms. Tabassum, a biomedical engineering major.
“I am so shocked by this decision and deeply disappointed that the university is succumbing to a campaign of hate aimed at silencing my voice,” Ms Tabassum wrote in a statement. She has identified herself as a first-generation American of South Asian descent.
Controversies over free speech have engulfed many universities since the Israel-Hamas war began. University officials have had to navigate heated debates over pro-Palestinian student protests, which many Jewish students and alumni say often veer toward anti-Semitism. Protesters say the pushback is an attempt to censor their political beliefs.
USC’s decision to cancel the speech was announced Monday by Andrew T. Guzman, the coach, who said he had made the final decision to select Ms. Tabassum.
“Over the past few days, the discussion about our choice of physician has taken on a disturbing nature,” Dr. Guzman wrote. “The intensity of emotion, fueled both by social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial security risks and disruption to the authority ».
Acknowledging that the decision to cancel a eulogy broke with university tradition, Dr. Guzman added, “To be clear: this decision has nothing to do with free speech. There is no right to free speech to speak in the first place.”
The university, a private institution, did not immediately respond Tuesday to a question about whether it had received a credible threat.
Ms. Tabassum could not immediately be reached for comment. In a written statement released on her behalf, she questioned the university’s motives. “Serious doubts remain as to whether USC’s decision to rescind my invitation to speak is made solely for security reasons,” he wrote.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, issued a statement condemning the decision to cancel the speech as “cowardly” and called on USC to retract it.
The university announced April 5 that Ms. Tabassum, who is from Chino Hills, Calif., will be the dean of 2024. She was chosen from among more than 200 students who met the academic qualifications — a grade point average of at least 3.98. From this pool, a selection committee of faculty members evaluated more than 100 candidates.
Ms. Tabassum’s selection announcement cited her volunteer work with nonprofit organizations in the Los Angeles area, including a mobile blood pressure clinic that visits homeless shelters and a group she co-founded that distributes medical supplies to areas in need throughout the world.
Shortly after the announcement, a campus group known as Trojans for Israel issued a statement saying Ms. Tabassum “openly peddles anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.” She cited her social media bio as including a link to a page calling Zionism a “settler-colonial racist ideology.” The group urged the university’s president, Carol Folt, to reconsider the selection of Ms. Tabassum.
