Columbia’s President Was Booed at Graduation
Columbia University has spent more than a year as the epicenter of student protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza and, more recently, the target of the Trump administration’s attack on elite colleges. In light of the school acquiescing to the president’s demands in recent months and the detention of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil by ICE, the student body had a lot to protest during graduation.
On Tuesday, Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, was drowned out with boos and chants of “Free Mahmoud” during her commencement address to the undergraduate class of 2025. (Shipman is the school’s third president in the past year — she stepped in a few months ago when Katrina Armstrong resigned, who in turn had taken the mantle after Minouche Shafik’s August resignation.) Shipman was met with vocal dismay as soon as she walked up to the microphone, which continued well after she began her speech. “I know that many of you feel some amount of frustration with me and I know you feel it with the administration,” Shipman said, inviting a renewed wave of jeering. “And I know that we have a strong, strong tradition of free speech at this university. And I am always open to feedback, which I am getting right now.”
Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman welcomed to Columbia College's graduation ceremony with sustained jeers and boos.
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 20, 2025
Minutes later, students break out in loud chants of "Free Mahmoud": pic.twitter.com/QJit91wydm
Later in her address, students began chanting, “Free Mahmoud,” in reference to Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate student who was detained by ICE in March after helping to organize Gaza protests at the university. Khalil, a green-card holder married to a U.S. citizen, remains in custody in Louisiana after a judge ruled that the Trump administration could continue its efforts to deport him. Later, at the commencement ceremony for the university’s School of International and Public Affairs — where Khalil was studying — student speaker Felix Wang acknowledged his absence.
“[Columbia] is a name now known for a classmate who should be graduating with us today,” Wang said. “I cannot stand up here without acknowledging the absence of Mahmoud Khalil, whose unlawful detainment prevents him from walking across the stage today.” The mention of Khalil was met with applause and cheering from the graduates. Later in the ceremony, Khalil’s name was read as graduates walked to receive their diplomas, earning another round of cheers from his peers.
After not mentioning Khalil on Tuesday, Shipman changed course during the universitywide commencement on Wednesday. “We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else and they should not be targeted by the government for exercising that right,” Shipman told a crowd that was still booing her. “And let me also say that I know many in our community today are mourning the absence of our graduate, Mahmoud Khalil.”
At Barnard, Columbia’s women’s college, president Laura Rosenbury was also met with vocal protests during her commencement address. During her speech, Rosenbury was interrupted by students yelling “Shame!” and “You arrest us!” In an Instagram post, the activist group Columbia4Palestine wrote, “We will continue to disrupt EVERY COLLEGE at Columbia University as long as they’re invested in the genocide of Palestine. Barnard, we won’t let you hide your crimes against Palestine — you’re committing genocide too!”
While Columbia has garnered the most attention for its students’ solidarity with Gaza, it is certainly not the only school where students are using graduation to speak out. Last week, NYU Gallatin commencement speaker Logan Rozos used his time onstage to decry the United States’ ongoing financial support of Israel. Following a backlash from Zionist groups, NYU announced it was withholding Rozos’s diploma and issued a statement saying that he “misuse[d] his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views.”
Earlier in the month, UC Berkeley’s commencement ceremony was disrupted by a group of about 500 pro-Palestine graduates. According to the New York Times, students chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go,” and “UC divest” before moving to an empty section of the stadium where the ceremony was being held, right behind the main stage.
These protests come as the Trump administration is waging a war on elite colleges and universities, often through the students protesting Israel’s occupation of Gaza. In March, Columbia lost $400 million in federal funding for “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The school quickly capitulated to the administration and agreed to change its protest policies, hire campus security officers who will be able to arrest students, and appoint a new provost to “conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the university, starting immediately with the Middle East.” Columbia has yet to see its funding reinstated.
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