Recent USF protests leave some worried graduation ceremonies could be disrupted

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — University of South Florida student Julio Galdamez spent Thursday taking graduation photos, preparing for his big moment.

“I’ve thought about walking ever since I was a kid, because I am the first in my generation to graduate,” he said.

Galdamez said walking across that stage will be a memory to last a lifetime.

It’s a memory he’s worried could be impacted by protests.

“I first assumed there’s going to be a lot more cops, but during commencement and all that, but now it’s kind of the part of are we even going to have a graduation tomorrow or not, or is it going to be postponed or cancelled?” he said. “I’m not sure.”

USF said there will be heightened law enforcement presence for commencement ceremonies. Anyone who disrupts or interferes with the ceremony will be removed.

“It would kind of be a shame because I feel like I did all of this hard work just not to walk,” Galdamez said. “I don’t know, it’s kind of a depressing feeling.”

This comes after three days of pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

The demonstrations have led to 13 arrests and the deployment of tear gas.

“I shut my eyes to prevent it from blinding me,” USF Divest Coalition leader Alina Atiq said. “I began coughing as I lost the ability to breathe, and I fell to the ground.”

Protestors like Atiq ran in fear Tuesday, after ignoring commands from law enforcement to disperse.

She said students were prepared to put everything on the line for “liberation,” but didn’t expect things to escalate in the way they did.

“I couldn’t see where I was going, but I heard people screaming,” Atiq said. “I heard the cops in their bikes chasing them down.”

“I heard rubber bullets hitting flesh,” she said. “I heard helicopters swarming the air, and I ran for dear life.”

In the midst of protestors’ frustrations and graduating students’ concerns lies fear in some Jewish students at the university.

“Students, and particularly Jewish students and faculty members, are justifiably feeling terribly unsafe,” Florida Holocaust Museum Board Chair Michael Igel said. “Some can’t even leave the room they’re in because of harassment and threats of physical violence.”

There’s a mixture of fear, frustration and sadness and some isolation,” Igel said. “But it’s really import that there’s resilience and perseverance that needs to be noted.”

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