{"id":26276,"date":"2024-04-20T02:33:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T07:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=26276"},"modified":"2024-04-20T02:33:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T07:33:49","slug":"usc-cancels-all-commencement-speakers-after-canceled-valedictorian-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=26276","title":{"rendered":"USC cancels all commencement speakers after canceled valedictorian speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amid the decision to cancel<\/a> this year’s valedictorian speech, the University of Southern California announced it would be eliminating all outside speakers and honorees from its main-stage commencement taking place next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a memo released on Friday, the university said, “To keep the focus on our graduates, we are redesigning the commencement program. Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheduled keynote speakers included USC alumnus filmmaker Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Wicked.” Sports icon Billie Jean King was also scheduled to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asna Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim, was scheduled to give a commencement speech on May 10. School administrators, however, decided to cancel her speech citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USC said the decision was based on potential threats regarding the selection of the valedictorian.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After careful consideration, we have decided that our student valedictorian will not deliver a speech at commencement,” provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at USC, Andrew T. Guzman, said in a letter<\/a> to students on Monday. “While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college senior spoke about the situation<\/a> with ABC News Live’s Phil Lipof on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The valedictorian honor is ultimately a unifying honor, right? It’s emblematic of USC’s unifying values. And I think I take that to heart.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I wanted my speech to be in the genre of a valedictory speech, and so that being said, I wanted to impart a message of hope. I also wanted to impart a message of responsibility,” Tabassum said to Lipof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USC — which expects a crowd of 65,000 for the commencement festivities on May 10 — said the focus of the ceremony should be “on the tremendous accomplishments of our 19,000-plus graduates, their friends, their families, and the staff and faculty who have been such a critical part of their journeys.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the decision to cancel this year’s valedictorian speech, the University of Southern California announced it would be eliminating all outside speakers and honorees from its main-stage commencement taking place next month. In a memo released on Friday, the university said, “To keep the focus on our graduates, we are redesigning the commencement program. Given the highly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5781],"tags":[25980,6438,27908,23603,27910],"class_list":["post-26276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-all","tag-canceled","tag-commencement","tag-usc","tag-valedictorian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26278,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26276\/revisions\/26278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}