LOS ANGELES—Four days of commencement celebrations will begin Wednesday, May 8, at USC following weeks of campus unrest and the arrest of 93 protesters who attempted to occupy Alumni Park, leading to the university’s cancellation of its annual main stage graduation ceremony.
Graduation celebrations will begin at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday with a series of doctoral hooding ceremonies at various campus locations, along with a variety of other commencement activities throughout the day.
Additional ceremonies are planned for the rest of the week, with the bulk of the individual school events planned on Friday.
The traditional main stage ceremony, which had been scheduled for Friday and annually attracts more than 60,000 people to Alumni Park, was scrubbed last month amid campus unrest. In its place, the university will hold a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. University officials said the event will include “drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, the Trojan Marching Band, and a special gift just for the Class of 2024.”
Each graduate will be eligible to receive up to six tickets for the event. Tickets will be required for entry to that celebration and all commencement events as security remains heightened.
Turmoil over the commencement activities began last month following the selection of Asna Tabassum as this year’s class 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 Ms. 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.
With the uproar intensifying, the university then canceled all “outside speakers” at the main stage ceremony, and canceled plans to bestow any honorary degrees at the event. Filmmaker Jon M. Chu had been scheduled to be the main commencement speaker. Honorary degrees were expected to be presented to Mr. Chu, National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, tennis legend Billie Jean King and National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt.
The university said it will “confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”
Days later, 93 people were arrested following a daylong pro-Palestine protest and attempted occupation of Alumni Park, where the main stage ceremony is traditionally held. Protesters—like those in similar actions on college campuses nationwide—demanded that the university divest from Israeli-tied organizations, cancel Israel-related study-abroad program and issue a public call for a permanent cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest and mass arrests led to stepped-up security and limits on who could enter the campus. The next day, the university announced it was canceling the main stage commencement ceremony altogether.
“We understand that this is disappointing; however, we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC, including places to gather with family, friends, faculty, and staff, the celebratory releasing of the doves, and performances by the Trojan Marching Band,” USC officials said at the time.
In the weeks since, another pro-Palestine encampment was established in Alumni Park, and it was allowed to remain in place until early Sunday morning, when police moved in and dismantled it.
As a result, security is likely to be high as the university begins its commencement week. All graduating students and their guests will have to show digital tickets to gain access to any of the ceremonies or other events. Graduates will be able to invite up to eight named guests for the commencement events, except for the Thursday night Coliseum event, which is limited to six tickets per graduate.
