WASHINGTON: US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will not be delivering this year’s commencement address at the University of Vermont (UVM) amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on campus, the university announced.

UVM is holding its 223rd commencement on May 18 and 19, and on April 19, the university announced, adding that Ms Thomas-Greenfield, “one of the nation’s most accomplished diplomats”, would be its 2024 commencement speaker.

On Friday evening, the university’s president, Suresh Garimella, issued another statement expressing regret: “It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address.”

Last week, over a hundred students gathered outside the university’s library, urging the administration to cancel the address due to the US vetoes of UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Students demanded cancellation of Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s address due to US vetoes of UN resolutions seeking Gaza ceasefire

Last Sunday, students established an encampment outside the library, vowing to remain until their demands are met.

On Saturday, UVM’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine celebrated the cancellation via an Instagram post, labeling Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield a “war criminal”.

“Each day that Democrats fail to stand united for a permanent ceasefire, two-state solution, and recognition of a Palestinian state, more and more youth find themselves disillusioned with the party,” stated the College Democrats.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protests have erupted across higher education institutions in recent weeks, leading to hundreds of arrests and causing several universities, including UVM, to adjust their graduation plans.

According to a CNN report, colleges and universities across America proceeded with graduation ceremonies on Saturday amidst ongoing pro-Palestinian protests. Several campuses have implemented heightened security measures in preparation for commencement.

At the University of Michigan, banners bearing opposing messages flew overhead, and some protesters were escorted out during a graduation ceremony on Saturday. A ceremony held on Friday at the school was also disrupted.

At New York’s Columbia Univer­sity, the epicentre of the protests, the school’s president on Friday described the past two weeks as “among the most difficult in Columbia’s history”.

At Rutgers University in New Jersey, a four-day standoff at a student encampment ended peacefully this week after the administration and students reached an agreement to defuse tensions.

University officials accepted several demands, notably to explore the establishment of an Arab cultural centre, providing support for 10 displaced Palestinian students at Rutgers, and undertaking a review of the students’ primary demand to divest from companies with business ties to Israel.

Also this week, Northwestern University in Illinois made history as the first US school to publicly announce a deal with protesters. This was followed by Brown University agreeing to mitigate protest activity on the Ivy League campus in Providence, Rhode Island, in exchange for the Brown Corporation voting on a divestment measure in October.

These developments unfolded mere hours after police dispersed protests at UCLA and Columbia University, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of students.

Thirteen students were also arrested at Princeton University, prompting some protesters to declare a hunger strike and fast until the university engages with their demands.

According to a survey conducted by the US Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, pro-Palestine demonstrations involving students in the United States have nearly tripled from April 1 to 26 compared with all of March.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024