X A V I Posted May 13, 2024 Posted May 13, 2024 Dozens of Virginia Commonwealth University students walked out of their graduation ceremony on Saturday, partly over a speaker's response - the state governor - to campus protests. It comes as US school officials brace for possible disruptions of commencement events over Israel-Gaza war protests. Dozens of colleges roiled by protests are holding graduations this weekend. More than 2,000 people have been arrested since protest began mid-April. Social media posts on Saturday showed Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) students in caps and gowns leaving the room as Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin began his commencement address. Some students had criticised the selection of Mr Youngkin as that year's speaker, both for his opposition to a racial literacy requirement being considered by VCU as well as for saying that encampments on college campuses should not be allowed. Video posted online show some of the VCU protesters chanting "disclose, divest - we will not stop we will not rest". Many students protesters in the US are demanding that their schools, many with massive endowments, financially cut ties from Israel. People were clapping so loudly, members of the audience couldn't hear Mr Youngkin speak, Sereen Haddad, a second-year VCU student who helped organise the protest, told the BBC on Saturday evening. Ms Haddad said some 150 people marched outside the ceremony, including students who walked out. Thirteen people, including six students, were arrested at VCU when the encampment there was cleared by police on 29 April. Mr Youngkin's speech went on as planned despite the walk-out. He later posted a message on social media congratulating graduates and did not comment on the protest. What do student protesters at US universities want? 'Student arrests will be my final college memory' At another commencement on Saturday, the University of California Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ opened the ceremony by acknowledging the weeks of demonstrations from protesters. "I'm saddened by how this conflict has divided students, faculty and staff," she said, according to the LA Times. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68996066
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