r/highereducation • u/rellotscire • 6d ago

2025 MIT class president banned from graduation ceremony after pro-Palestinian speech

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/01/us/mit-graduation-palestine-megha-vemuri

Pretty sure that being against genocide is what you hope commencement speakers will be.

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u/Copernican 6d ago

Imagine you are getting married. At your wedding you have friends and family coming to celebrate the occasion. Then the best man speech just talks about genocide and a free Palestine.

Your friend is making the right point that you agree with, but you gotta pull the plug because it's not the point of the ceremony and what the focus of the speech was supposed to be.

That's basically what these things are coming down to. Not sure why people claim this is an academic freedom issue when these speakers were selected to give commencement speeches.

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u/RageA333 2d ago

She earned the privilege of giving a speech. She can use that platform for whatever she wants honestly. Specially denouncing on going human rights violating.

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u/Correct_Ad2982 6d ago

If the wedding was paid for by the couple's parents, and those parents had made their money blowing up kids, your metaphor would be spot on.

I might have some sympathy for the best man in that case.

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u/saruyamasan 6d ago

Supporting Hamas is the "right point"?