Southwestern blasts student’s anti-Israel commencement speech

Southwestern University on Monday condemned a student’s speech at its commencement Saturday, characterizing as “highly controversial and antisemitic” her use of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and asserting that she had misled institutional officials by delivering a different speech from the one she had shared with them earlier.

“We … expect that student speeches at university-wide events reflect our commitment to a respectful and inclusive environment, while still upholding academic freedom that is the center of our mission,” the university said in its statement. “Unfortunately, certain comments did not reflect our respectful and inclusive environment.”

The speech by the student differed little in terms of content from many others delivered in recent weeks and months. It described Israel as engaging in “genocide” in carrying out its war in Gaza, accused the U.S. government and some university endowments of supporting the arming of Israel, and closed with the “river to the sea” phrase that some view as calling for the elimination of Israel.

Southwestern said in its statement that “many” of those who attended the ceremony had expressed disappointment with the student speaker’s comments. The university said the speaker had been chosen through a vote of Phi Beta Kappa members and that the speech the student delivered differed meaningfully from the version she had shared for feedback.

Commenters on a Facebook post about the university’s statement about the speech predictably divided alumni and students. Some criticized the speech, but a majority questioned Southwestern’s response: “The Southwestern administration should be ashamed … Don’t spend four years teaching students to seek truth, provide them with the skills to identify it and then condemn them for having the courage to speak it.”