Xavier University of Louisiana, located in New Orleans, recently canceled an address to be delivered by United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
This decision was made due to a series of protests from students and the community regarding Thomas-Greenfield’s voting record at the UN.
In an email sent on Wednesday, the university president, Reynold Verret, announced the decision to reverse its choice of commencement speaker.
“Everyone’s goal is to have a commencement ceremony that appropriately honors the graduates and their achievements,” Verret wrote in the email, according to WGNO.
“The vast majority of students want to be able to enjoy a commencement ceremony free of disruptions. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with the commencement speaker as originally planned.”
The school initially revealed that Thomas-Greenfield would be the commencement speaker last Sunday. Following the Sunday news of the speaker lineup, nearly 1,800 people signed a petition demanding a new commencement speaker.
“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has repeatedly voted against a ceasefire in Gaza, resulting in the decimation of all 13 universities in Gaza, the loss of over 30,000 lives with thousands more remaining in the rubble from violence, and the continuation of the genocide in Gaza,” the petition says.
“Palestinians in Gaza draw upon the experiences of their brothers and sisters in America during the segregation era.”
The student-led petition asked the university to bring a commencement speaker that “represents” the school’s mission statement and to “end the politicization of our Commencement ceremony.”
“It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address,” Garimella said in the email.
Pro-Palestine protestors on university campuses across the country have shown their displeasure with President Biden and his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis impacting Palestinians in Gaza.
The Louisiana HBCU is the second school, after the University of Vermont (UVM), to make the decision. Suresh Garimella, UVM’s president, announced the decision in an email to the university community.
Xavier University of Louisiana’s 2024 Commencement was held on Friday, May 10, 2024, at the Convocation Center Annex Building.
