Protest of Students Just before the Graduation of US Universities

Student protesters disrupted graduation ceremonies at universities like VCU and UC Berkeley, walking out and chanting to demand their schools divest from Israel over the Gaza conflict.

Students at the universities of many U.  S. universities disrupted graduation ceremonies this weekend to protest the schools' connections with Israel during the ongoing Gaza crisis. 

At Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, a large group of students walked out when Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin started giving his commencement speech on Saturday. The demonstrators complained about Youngkin's disagreement with requiring racial literacy classes at VCU and with the idea of permitting protest camps on college campuses.

"We won't stop! We won't rest!" VCU protesters shouted as they demanded the university disinvest from Israel, as Sereen Haddad, the student organizer, reported. Youngkin went on speaking amidst the disturbance. 

As in the case of the University of California, Berkeley graduation, the same scenes were re-enacted. While others held the Palestinian flags and kept shouting "Free Palestine" during the speeches. The previous day, the Berkeley Law graduates were dressed in shirts that spelled "UC Divest.  "

The United States is home to over a hundred universities that have witnessed protests during the last month demanding that they cut their financial ties to Israel over the Gaza conflict. The protests have caused some schools to either reschedule or cancel graduations because of security concerns. 

Police have arrested protesters at several campuses, among which are VCU, the University of Arizona, and the University of Pennsylvania. Yet some other universities have refrained from evicting campuses before the graduation ceremonies. 

Also Read: Israeli Army Instructs More People to Leave Gaza As the Battle in Rafah Intensifies

As graduations are scheduled in the following weeks, the protests for change are likely to continue at schools that are being disrupted by the demonstrators from institutions flush with massive endowments.