School condemns ‘misuse’ of student’s role, says he lied about speech
A student speaker at one of New York University’s graduation ceremonies launched into an anti-Israel tirade on stage Wednesday.
The rant was met with mixed reactions from the audience, and the school issued a statement apologizing for the incident and announcing the student’s diploma is being withheld.
“The only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine,” NYU’s Gallatin School Student Chair Logan Rozos said during his speech, according to a video posted to Instagram.
Following this statement, some audience and faculty members on stage erupted in cheers and applause, while others could be heard booing.
Rozos also said “the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months.”
“And that I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today, but to speak for all people of conscience, all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity. And I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide,” he said.
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On the same day, NYU spokesperson John Beckman issued a news release condemning the student’s speech.
“NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today—one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus—to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” he stated.
Beckman told the campus community that Rozos “lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules.”
Therefore, NYU is withholding his diploma while it “pursue[s] disciplinary actions,” Beckman stated.
“NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him,” he stated.
By Thursday morning, Rozos’s student profile on the NYU Gallatin website seemed to have been removed, The Guardian reported.
Pro-Israel organizations have also criticized the students decision to “politicize” the ceremony.
“Graduation should be a time of celebration, not a venue for spreading hate and division,” an Anti-Defamation League spokesperson told VINnews.
“No student — especially Jewish students — should have to sit through politicized rhetoric that promotes harmful lies about Israel during such a personal milestone,” the spokesperson said.
“Speeches like this don’t foster dialogue — they spread misinformation and alienate Jewish students,” said Aviva Klompas, co-founder of a Jewish advocacy group on campus.
“Graduation ceremonies are not the place for political grandstanding, especially when it veers into what many consider hate speech,” she said.
MORE: NYU cancels professor’s talk about casualties in Gaza, cuts to USAID
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Student Logan Rozos speaks at NYU graduation; ranalkalay/Instagram
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