Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/19/usc-valedictorian-asna-tabassum-speaks-out-after-school-cancels-her-speech.html
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I thought that the Newsnight reporter was pretty respectful. I didn’t see her questioning as ‘combative.’
Tabassum’s attitude and handling of the probing questions and calm, diplomatic refusal to be led into expressing anything straying from her opinions is just outstanding. She sets a brilliant example that I think we should all aspire to.
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I wonder what percent of valedictorian speeches actually get canceled or censured or otherwise cause a kerfuffle. From the news and my own life experience, if you say anything other than, “School could be a challenge, but it’s about the friends we made along the way!” the admin is going to try to stop you. Which is ironic since a valedictorian, especially one like Tabassum, is probably one of the students who is more likely to have something interesting/provocative to say.
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Safety concerns, eh? So there were specific threats, then? And I trust that the university referred the matter to police, naturally. And surely the police are taking the matter seriously, right?
Because if that’s not the case, then “safety concerns” could disrupt just about anything. And then the stochastic terrorists don’t even have to go to the trouble of making threats. Or are we already there?
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Another good interview:
Amid widespread repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campuses across the United States, we speak to University of Southern California valedictorian Asna Tabassum, whose commencement speech has been canceled for what the university claimed were “safety” reasons after Tabassum became the subject of an online anti-Palestinian hate campaign led by pro-Israel groups. “When I had asked for details regarding the security concerns,” says Tabassum of learning about the cancellation, “I was offered no information and was told it was not appropriate for me to know.” Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian American Muslim graduating with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide, says the unprecedented cancellation of her speech has been “heartbreaking.”
“And so, in no way am I advocating for hate. I am only advocating for human equality and for the sanctity of human life when I say that Palestinians, as well as Jews, as well as Muslims and Armenians and anyone else who is invested in this conflict, has the equal right to life and the equal privilege of the fullest extent to life.”
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It’s cowardly and shameful that USC canceled her speech (which hadn’t even been written yet!) but if there’s a silver lining to this situation it’s that she’s been able to get her voice heard in so many other forums as a result. I’ve seen lots of news stories about this in the last couple of days.
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I’m sure Tabassum will respond with a one-finger salute when the USC alumni association reaches out to her in later years for donations.
I don’t understand why the USC administration is reacting this way. You’d think the UCLA Engineering Department had cut up the statue of Tommy Trojan with an arc welder or bolted the scrapped Nuclear Reactor core from the Engineering Building to Tommy.
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In related news, Ilhan Omar’s daughter has been suspended at Barnard College for participating in a peaceful (but arguably disruptive) pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia (Barnard College is associated with Columbia).
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4605100-ocasio-cortez-tlaib-criticize-suspension-omars-daughter-at-columbia/
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/s
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Yeah, to be clear, I am 100% in support of this kind of protest. From what I understand, they occupied some green space on campus and refused to move, even after being ordered to leave by the University. So it sounds like the John Lewis style “good trouble” kind of disruption. And she had no disciplinary actions on her record at all, so a suspension seems excessive. I suspect the simultaneous grilling in Congress of Columbia’s President isn’t entirely unrelated.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/business/takeaways-columbia-antisemitism-hearing/index.html
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What really is the point of a protest if it doesn’t cause some disruption? Pre-arranged marches in city centres cause disruption. If every protest must comply with the restrictions of the authorities, there would be no protests except illegal ones, such as holding up a blank piece of paper.
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