UT commencement ceremony goes off without a hitch, but protesters rally after event

The University of Texas' 141st commencement Saturday evening was followed by a pro-Palestinian protest of students, faculty and supporters in red gloves demanding that the university divest from businesses and weapons manufacturers that contribute to Israel because of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The protest followed numerous demonstrations at UT and national calls for institutions to divest as the war continues. UT held its commencement despite some other universities around the nation canceling commencement or facing protests during ceremonies.

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The university posted clear conduct guidelines on its commencement page that prohibited disruption.

The protest comes, but not until after graduation

Before the ceremony, a small plane circled with an Israeli and American flag and a banner that said, "Israel Strong."

During the ceremony, there was no interruption. But as commencement concluded, protesters gathered outside Royal-Memorial Stadium and marched to the Lyndon B Johnson Fountain and Lawn. Police followed protesters to the lawn but did not interfere.

"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!" protesters chanted, carrying signs and flags and some wearing graduation regalia. About 100 gathered.

A statement posted on the Palestine Solidarity Committee's Instagram account halfway through the ceremony said some UT students and faculty members walked out of commencement because they have lost faith in UT's administration and UT President Jay Hartzell "for their extreme repression of pro-Palestine voices."

"Despite our pleas for the university to divest from death, they remain obstinate in their complicity in genocide and have brutalized their students for advocating against it," the statement said. "It is shameful for us to sit and celebrate the ceremony on this field when there is not a single university left standing in Gaza."

Graduate: 'I should feel more proud of this'

The committee was placed on interim suspension by UT after holding a protest April 24 that was met with significant police response and the arrest of 57 people, though all charges were later dropped. A surprise encampment April 29 resulted in the arrest of 79 individuals. A May Day protest May 5 was met with significant police presence but no intervention or arrests, and a protest at City Hall after Israel's advance into Rafah last week also had no police intervention.

Hazma Bouderdaben, a double major in government and Middle Eastern studies, was supposed to graduate Saturday night, but he walked out to amplify Palestinian voices, he said.

"I should feel more invested in this. I should feel more proud of this," Bouderdaben said of graduation. "And yet I am reminded of how many people don't get to feel that, and I feel ashamed. But that's not productive. You take your privilege; you take the position that you have; you use it to amplify the voices that don't have that privilege."

Bouderdaben said he and others were wearing red gloves to symbolize "the blood that UT has spilled" through maintaining its investments. He said he believes divestment by UT and amplifying pro-Palestinian voices is necessary to help end the war in Gaza.

Hartzell, Abbott take hard line against divestment

In addition to divestment, the Palestine Solidarity Committee demands transparency and implementing ethical guidelines for investment with student and faculty input; amnesty and apologies to the committee, protesters and people who were arrested; and Hartzell's resignation because of the police response to the protests.

Paul Shapiro, a UT astronomy professor who attended commencement, stood by the protest in solidarity when he was leaving. He said he wore a stole with the pattern of a kaffiyeh and the Palestinian flag at his college's graduation and the universitywide commencement to stand up for academics in Gaza who have died or whose universities have been destroyed.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, said he believes anti-Zionism is falsely conflated with antisemitism and hopes that the university will divest.

"As academics, if this were to happen to us, wouldn't we expect the world and our fellow academics around the world to rise up and say this has got to stop?" Shapiro said. "It's not just about geopolitics; it's about the targeted destruction of a civilization and the potential for it to govern itself, lead itself, contribute to the world."

Kevin Eltife, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, said at a board meeting last week that "divestment is not an option." Gov. Greg Abbott also has said UT will "never" divest.

At the ceremony, Eltife celebrated Hartzell's leadership and the ability to have a graduation.

"Most of you did not have a high school graduation. I can promise you this, there was no way in hell you are not going to have a college graduation," Eltife told the cheering commencement crowd.

He praised the class for its accomplishments and particularly its perseverance as the one that started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is now time to go forward with confidence and assurance," he said at the end of his speech. "Because you for the rest of time are a Longhorn, and Longhorns change the world."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: University of Texas graduation is followed by pro-Palestinian protest