5 months ago
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NEW DELHI: After being marred by weeks of pro-Palestine protests by students in
US universities
, hundreds of students adorning graduation robes walked out of
Harvard commencement
ceremony chanting "free, free Palestine" on Thursday.
This came a day after the university announced that 13 students would not get their diploma as they participated in pro-Palestine protests.
Expressing support for their counterparts, students chanted “Let them walk, let them walk”, urging the authority to allow those 13 students to receive their diplomas.
The decision by Harvard's senior governing board comes after faculty members recommended on Monday that the 13 students be allowed to graduate despite their participation in the encampment. However, Harvard said that each of the 13 students had broken university policies by their actions during the encampment protest.
“In coming to this determination, we note that the express provisions of the Harvard College Student Handbook state that students who are not in good standing are not eligible for degrees,” it said in a written statement.
'Harvard do you hear us?'
Expressing disappointment over the way university handled the protestors, student speaker Shruthi Kumar said “this semester our freedom of speech and our expressions of solidarity became punishable.”
“I am deeply disappointed by the intolerance for freedom of speech and the right to civil disobedience on campus,” she said.
“This is about civil rights and upholding democratic principles,” she said. “The students had spoken. The faculty had spoken. Harvard do you hear us?”, she added.
'Protests are healthy, shouldn't be violent or silenced'
Addressing the graduates at the ceremony, speaker Maria Ressa, a journalist and advocate for freedom of press said that “you don't know who you are until you're tested, until you fight for what you believe in. Because that defines who you are.”
“The campus protests are testing everyone in America. Protests are healthy. They shouldn't be violent. They shouldn't be silenced,” she added.
(With inputs from AP)
