USC announced that valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s commencement speech has been canceled, stating it was “necessary to maintain the safety of our campus and students” ‘I am surprised that my own university has abandoned me,’ Tabassum said in a statement uscannenbergmedia.com/2024/04/15/pro…
You can read the statement from Asna Tabassum in full here:
@Phil_Lewis_ USC has extensive ties to Israel, and their donor base opens up the checkbooks for it. 24 years ago I was a student at Ben Gurion University and experienced it personally. They bankrolled an archaeological dig site I was on. That's what this is about. Donor capture.
@Phil_Lewis_ people love to talk about woke cancel culture, but the only people actual being ‘cancelled’ seem to be those calling for peace and justice. wild.
@Phil_Lewis_ I thought we believed in free speech in America…
@Phil_Lewis_ From the USC News: "Tabassum is graduating with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide." A "minor in resistance to genocide"? Give me a break. Enough of this shit already.
@Phil_Lewis_ Cowards. She worked her ass off for YEARS ro be the best student and doesn't get to to have her speech. Absolutely unacceptable by USC. Bunch of cowards bowing to Islamophobia
As a news editor, you should have disclosed to your low-information followers in your X post that the USC decision was likely based on the woman’s public views seen as antisemitic, ethnonationaist, racist and in support of genocide. USC saved her the dignity of being called out in that way by disinviting her on “safety” grounds. But you know what you’re doing.
Why should a publicly-funded university select a student speaker who intends to spew hateful, antisemitic rhetoric? That her hate is so ingrained she does not understand why her views are antisemitic is of no matter. Also, on purely academic grounds how can a valedictorian have a minor in "resistance to genocide." This sounds like political advocacy, not an academic discipline or course of study.
@Phil_Lewis_ This is nothing but Islamophobia and discrimination. Every student deserves their moment to shine. @USCprovost @USC @USCAnnenberg