Commencement student speaker, Logan Rozos, spoke movingly about the atrocities occurring in Gaza. And has been punished by having their diploma withheld.
I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today but to speak for all people of conscience and 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
Logan Rozos
Here is a video showing Logan Rozos giving their student commencement speech.
Video transcript
I’ve been uh freaking out a lot about this speech honestly Um and as I search my heart today uh in addressing you all my moral and political commitments guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say uh in this time and to a group this large um is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine Um I want to say um that 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 and 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 Thank you to the class of 2025 and congratulations.
Podcast
Based on the sources, the objections to Logan Rozos’s graduation speech primarily come from New York University (NYU) and various pro-Israel groups and individuals.
Here are the key objections:
- NYU’s Objections:
- NYU “strongly denounces” the speech.
- The university characterized the speech as a “misuse of his role as student speaker”.
- NYU stated that he used his platform to express his “personal and one-sided political views”.
- The university alleged that Rozos “lied about the speech he was going to deliver” and “violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules”.
- NYU stated it was “deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks”.
- The university felt that the graduation moment was “stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him”.
- NYU described what others called “genocide and crimes against humanity” as merely “one-sided” political views.
- Objections from Pro-Israel Groups and Individuals:
- The speech sparked “waves of condemnation” from pro-Israel groups.
- These groups “demanded the university take aggressive disciplinary action” against him.
- As video of the speech spread online, it was “roundly denounced by pro-Israel groups”.
- These groups accused NYU of creating an unsafe environment for Jewish students.
- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that no student, “especially Jewish students,” should have to experience “politicized rhetoric that promotes harmful lies about Israel” during a graduation ceremony.
- The group #EndJewHatred suggested the speech would meet the university’s newly-expanded definition of antisemitism. This account also referred to the ceremony during which the speech was given as “pure, unchecked Jew-hatred”.
- Some social media users called the speech “disgusting”.
- Some users slammed Rozos for not mentioning the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Support for Logan
Based on the sources, there are several indications of support for Logan Rozos’s views expressed in his graduation speech:
- At the graduation ceremony itself, his remarks were met with heavy applause from the crowd. Throughout his speech, cheers could be heard from the crowd. When he mentioned the atrocities in Palestine, the room erupted into applause and cheering. The speech drew loud cheers from the crowd, along with a standing ovation from some graduating students. The audience response was described as warm.
- After the speech was shared online, particularly on platforms like TikTok, several users commended him. Comments included remarks like, “You can tell he was nervous but he did amazing” and “Mad respect to him for speaking up“.
- An NYU professor, Andrew Ross, expressed strong disapproval of the university’s decision to withhold Rozos’s diploma, stating that he and many colleagues were “frankly appalled at the decision“. Ross considered the university’s action a “very good example of an administration falling down on the job“.
- The author of one article suggests that Rozos should be lauded for his courage, not punished for his dissent.
Postscript
Some of you know I’ve been learning to use Google’s NotebookLM research tool. NotebookLM created the transcript of the YouTube video in this post. NotebookLM also created the pro and con summaries. And it created the podcast.
Another thing NotebookLM can create is a briefing document, like this:
Here is NotebookLM’s summary of this project:
These articles and the included video transcript discuss a controversial graduation speech given by NYU student Logan Rozos, who condemned the ongoing conflict in Gaza, referring to it as a genocide supported by the United States. While the speech received applause from some in the audience, NYU issued a statement denouncing the remarks as one-sided and inappropriate, stating that Rozos had violated university rules and misrepresented his intended speech. Consequently, NYU announced they were withholding his diploma and pursuing disciplinary action, a decision that has drawn both praise and criticism and is seen by some as part of a larger trend of universities suppressing pro-Palestinian speech under political pressure.
unflinching 