CHICAGO – Graduation is a significant moment for many Americans. More than just a lavish ceremony, the ceremonies mark the presentation to students of the most coveted testimony of university life: a diploma.
But for some students who participated in the pro-Palestinian protests, campus activism cost them their degrees — at least for a while.
“Four years and just a criminal record, nothing else,” said Youssef Hasweh, one of four University of Chicago students whose diplomas were withheld pending an investigation into a drug encampment. protest. “A decade of working (in high school and college) in bathrooms because I decided to express my freedom of expression.”
Students who have been denied the lecture — some of whom have faced arrests, expulsions, suspensions and other disciplinary action — say they are left in limbo and being made examples. As they await appeals and the results of university investigations, they prepare for an uncertain future. Worst case scenario, they will be saddled with debt and have no credentials to show for it.
But even though the stakes are high, they told USA TODAY that none of them regret their participation in campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
“I have suffered these punishments and I have to overcome this stress, but it is incomparable to the plight of the Palestinians,” said Devron Burks, a Vanderbilt student who was arrested and deported following the occupation of a building in campus. “I don’t regret it and I don’t think I ever will.”
“We will be without a diploma and without a job”
Hasweh, who has actively participated in pro-Palestinian protests since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, received an email about a week before his graduation informing him that his diploma would not be awarded to him .
“I have recently received several complaints regarding the Quad encampment alleging issues related to disruptive conduct. In investigating the matter, you have been identified as a person who may have been involved,” wrote Jeremy W. Inabinet , associate dean of students, at Hasweh. in a May 24 email. “As you will be involved in the disciplinary system for disruptive conduct and in consultation with the Head of Faculty, your degree will not be conferred until this matter has been resolved. »
Inabinet said Hasweh would be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies on Saturday. But that could change if the university receives more reports of misconduct, the dean of students said.
Hasweh is a political science student who has family in the West Bank. He suspects the university chose him and three of his classmates because they were part of a group arrested for trespassing for participating in a pro-Palestinian sit-in in the fall . The arrest led to an eight-month school investigation that ended with warnings to students. Hasweh fears they won’t make it anymore.
“Everything is on the table again and we are betting on expulsion,” he said. “We will be without a diploma and without a job and we will find ourselves in this impossible situation. »
Although the university did not respond to specific questions about the arrests, it said in a statement about disciplinary proceedings that “degrees may be awarded expeditiously, depending on the resolution.”
Vanderbilt Student Loses Job Offer After Diploma Denied
Burks, the expelled Vanderbilt student, prepares for a scary scenario: no degree and lots of student debt.
The 21-year-old man, along with around 20 other students, occupied an administration building for more than ten hours before campus police broke up the protest. Most of them were temporarily suspended, while Burks and two others were arrested for assault and later deported. In a statement, the university said the three students pushed a community services officer and a staff member as they forced their way into the building – a claim Burks denies.
Burks, who uses they/them pronouns, spent hours in a holding cell before being released. Banned from campus, Burks was kicked out of their apartment, and in recent weeks he has slept in Airbnbs and on friends’ couches.
Instead of being applauded on stage in a 30,000-seat football stadium, Burks celebrated his graduation a few days earlier in a Nashville courtyard. In front of a few dozen students, faculty and local activists, Burks received a fake diploma and a superlative: “Most likely, I will have an appointment after this.”
Now home in Georgia, Burks is looking for a job while in the midst of an arduous appeals process to graduate. The psychology student has already had a job offer withdrawn.
“It’s been the most stressful time,” Burks said. “Without my diploma, I cannot continue my life.”
Harvard won’t issue degrees until at least 2026, student says
Harvard University has barred several students from graduating who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, according to a statement from student organizers.
Syd Sanders, a senior who may not graduate until May 2026, told USA TODAY he was “shocked” by the university’s decision and added that he and his classmates were being punished to deter others from manifest.
“It’s insane,” Sanders, 22, said. “It was really underhanded of the school, and I think it speaks to their stance on free speech.”
Jonathan Palumbo, a Harvard spokesman, said in an email that the university does not “comment on specific student disciplinary matters.”
Sanders said his family was upset at school and disappointed they couldn’t see Sanders walk on the first day of school. Back in Belfast, Maine, where he became one of the nation’s first openly transgender high school valedictorians, Sanders is seeking work as a union organizer.
“I’m going to move on with my life,” he said. “I’m appealing so I’ll try to get my degree, I guess. But for now, I’m really excited to be away from this place.
Two Princeton students’ diplomas at risk
At Princeton University, the graduations of two seniors have been thrown into uncertainty while awaiting the results of an investigation into a protest that broke out at an annual alumni event.
During President Christopher Eisgruber’s speech on May 25, protesters stood, raised their red-painted hands and chanted pro-Palestinian chants, the video shows. After a few minutes, the protesters came out and continued to protest outside.
Khari Franklin, one of two seniors who did not graduate, was inside the auditorium but did not participate in the protest, he told the Daily Princetonian. He said he decided to leave to avoid disciplinary action because he was among a group of students arrested in late April when police broke up a sit-in. Franklin and the other students received summonses for trespassing and were temporarily barred from campus.
“It is standard practice at the university that when seniors are involved in alleged disciplinary violations shortly before taking office, their diplomas are withheld pending the conclusion of a disciplinary investigation,” said Jennifer Morrill, door -spokesperson for Princeton University in a press release.
“The University continues to enforce time, place and manner neutral rules during end-of-year events. A wide range of protest activities are permitted, including walking out of an event. Significant disruption to University operations and events is not permitted.”
On Monday, Franklin received an email informing him that while he could attend the commencement, he would not receive a diploma until the investigation was complete.
“It’s very surreal. Because on the one hand, I didn’t really understand that the university would have gone that far and been that drastic… without any indication, warning or reasonable expectation that a rule had been broken,” he said. -he told the student newspaper “But at the same time, I wasn’t surprised either.”
Disciplinary measures persist during summer vacation
In several schools, the threat of suspensions and other disciplinary measures hangs over dozens of students.
Columbia University administrators have imposed temporary suspensions on more than 30 students that could become permanent, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian student organizations. Barnard College students protesting in Columbia were also suspended, the group said.
Neither Barnard nor Columbia, which has been at the epicenter of university protests for months, responded to requests for comment.
In Florida, administrators at New College, a progressive public liberal arts school that state Republicans transformed into a conservative institution, said students who interrupted the start of the school year on May 17 with “boos” and chants of “Free Palestine” could see their diplomas suspended. and face suspension.
“We support and protect the right to free speech while resolutely emphasizing civil discourse,” a statement from the school said. “The disruptive activities of a few individuals during a ceremony attended by hundreds of people are not representative of any of these principles.”
“I would do it a thousand times”
Hasweh, a student at the University of Chicago, dreamed of attending the prestigious university for years before being accepted. Now, the graduation weekend he has been waiting for will be fraught with frustration, not only for him but also for his family.
“How can a mother not be furious that a school that was supposed to take care of her child was the one that brutalized him,” Hasweh said.
Yet Hasweh’s resolve is intact.
“Even if I didn’t graduate, I would do it a thousand times,” he said.