The Class of 2024 valedictorian whose canceled USC commencement address spurred controversy, protests and the scuttling of the main university graduation ceremony, has shared the text of that speech — though not how you might expect.
Asna Tabassum, in a nod to how her planned address was silenced by the university, shared her speech with the Daily Trojan on Friday, where it was published in the school newspaper — redacted.
“President Folt, Provost Guzman, faculty, staff, families and fellow Class of 2024:
It is my honor to stand before you today as your Valedictorian. I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of ….”
The rest of the text is blacked out.
Student Asna Tabassum, the USC graduate whose commencement speech was postponed by USC, posted a redacted version of the speech on the Daily Trojan website on Friday, May 10. Photo: Snapshot of Daily Trojan post
According to the Trojan, the Class of 2024 valedictorian shared the speech “she hoped to deliver during the now-canceled May 10 main stage commencement ceremony with Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan. …..”
On Friday, Tabassum was expected to attend the university’s smaller graduation ceremony for engineering students, of which she is one.
According to Annenberg Media’s Instagram message: Tabassum would have given her now-canceled valedictory speech Friday at 8 a.m. at what would have been the university’s traditional mainstage graduation, which traditionally draws more than 60,000 attendees.
The annual USC graduation tradition grew complicated amid bitter division over the cancelled speech, a wave of campus pro-Palestine protests, a school closed to outsiders for days and an attempted encampment that led to 93 arrests.
According to Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan: “This speech is published as was written and shared by Tabassum. Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan did not write, edit or change the speech or its presentation.”
Asna Tabassum (Photo courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi, CAIR-LA)
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A week after Tabassum was chosen as USC’s 2024 valedictorian, Provost Andrew Guzman said she would not speak at commencement, citing safety concerns and “intensity of feelings” fueled by “social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
Turmoil over the commencement activities began last month following the selection of Tabassum as valedictorian. Her pro-Palestine views led to complaints from some critics who contended that some of her postings on social media were antisemitic — claims she has denied.
The university responded by announcing that Tabassum would not be permitted to make a speech at the main stage commencement ceremony — a move the university’s provost insisted was done solely over safety concerns.
That decision, however, prompted an uproar of its own, with groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations calling it an act of cowardice aimed at silencing a pro-Palestinian viewpoint.
The demonstrations spread to other Southern California campuses from nearby UCLA and Cal State L.A. to Long Beach State on the coast, CSU Fullerton and UC Irvine in Orange County and UC Riverside in the Inland Empire.
In lieu of the traditional on-campus commencement, USC pulled together a university-wide “Trojan Family Graduation Celebration,” next door at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday evening. More than 18,000 people attended, according to the university.
Staff writers John Orona, Clara Harter, Linh Tat and City News Service contributed to this report
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