When Logan Rozos took the stage as student speaker at the New York University Gallatin School commencement on May 14, he said he was nervous. 

“I’ve been freaking out a lot about this speech,” he told the crowd. Soon, so too would the rest of the university—and much of the country.

“The only thing that is appropriate to say” to a group as large as this audience, Rozos said, was “a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.”  Most of the crowd applauded loudly, while some booed. “The genocide that is currently occurring is politically and militarily supported by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months.”

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed about 62,614 people, including at least 17,492 children. The Israeli government has been restricting and at times blocking basic humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip. Recently, senior Israeli officials have openly declared their intent to “conquer” Gaza.

Hours after Rozos’ speech, NYU took the unusual step of publicly announcing that the school was withholding his diploma pending a disciplinary process. NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement that the university “strongly denounces” Rozos’ “misuse” of his role as student speaker to “express his personal and one-sided political views.” Beckman further alleged that Rozos lied about what he had planned to say and apologized “that the audience was subjected to these remarks.”

NYU’s statement, and the speech that sparked it, sent shockwaves across the country as the incident went viral online. Pro-Palestine groups at NYU, boosted by allies across the country, launched an email-writing and phone call campaign to Beckman and other university administrators. Members of the NYU community and other anti-genocide and free speech advocates told Prism that the university’s treatment of Rozos was unfairly heavy-handed. 

Beckman did not respond to several requests for comment. Rozos also could not be reached for comment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on NYU to reverse course. In a public statement, the advocacy group commended Rozos for raising awareness “in a world where the word ‘Palestine’ has become wrongfully criminalized.”

Haley Gluhanich, a lawyer with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told Prism that the group is investigating the incident. FIRE does not know if Rozos signed an agreement about the speech—the violation of which would make his speech unprotected. “However, if NYU’s motivation for investigation or punishment is based on viewpoint, that would not be okay,” Gluhanich said in an email. “Regardless, it seems that withholding the diploma, effectively preventing the student from graduating, is disproportionate to his actions.”

Sebastian Leon Martinez, a student organizer on campus, took issue with Beckman claiming that the commencement audience was “subjected” to Rozos’ views. Leon Martinez said that reflected inconsistencies in the university’s response to allegations of hate. For instance, an investigation into the obscene vandalism of a Muslim prayer room in early April is still not resolved, and pro-Palestine protesters continue to face doxxing threats, including from university affiliates, Leon Martinez said.  “But then there’s an immediate and swift reaction to hire, for example, a Title VI coordinator in the face of claims of antisemitism,” Leon Martinez said.

This was also not the first time the university cracked down on Palestine advocacy. In 2019, then-President Andrew Hamilton issued a public statement condemning a pro-Palestine doctoral commencement speech, but the university did not announce disciplinary action at the time. More recently, NYU attempted to require law students to renounce protests to sit for exams, barred a journalism professor from campus buildings for a time after he documented protests, and called police on protesters.

NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said its members attempted to deliver a petition to university President Linda Mills on May 20, calling on the university to hand Rozos his diploma. Instead, the group wrote in an Instagram announcement, members were met by numerous campus security officers, a university lawyer, and a chief of staff, saying the area was for administrators only. The petition said NYU has pursued “relentless censorship, harsh disciplinary action, and ruthless crackdowns on anyone who has dared to raise their voice” over the last two years.

Mya Sato, a recent Gallatin graduate who served in student government for most of her time at NYU, told Prism that it’s hard to predict how the administration will respond to any given issue. She said the student government adviser tightened their control over executive committee statements after Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, 2023.

But when NYU College Republicans advertised an “Immigrant Invasion” panel on a poster with caricatures of Black men, it was only after a petition had circulated and an invited speaker encouraged attendees to bring guns that the university shut down the event, based on fears of violence. “Why do they feel emboldened to make those statements?” Sato said of the College Republicans and the invited speaker. “What is the larger question about the culture that’s shifting here at the university?”

At another NYU commencement, at the Tisch School of the Arts on May 16, speakers directed criticisms at the university. Game design Professor Naomi Clark, whose speech was written before Rozos spoke at Gallatin’s commencement, addressed students’ fears of expressing themselves due to potential government retaliation. Clark condemned the university and called upon it to protect all students. Behind her on stage stood several faculty members with their mouths gagged in silent protest.

Clark told Prism that she and fellow professors were addressing “the chilling effects on student freedom of expression.”

Professor Joe Vinciguerra echoed similar sentiments. The dramatic writing chair was met with roaring cheers in his address, where he enunciated “big words,” like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” syllable by syllable. “Stay dangerous,” he advised.

Uptown on May 18, Columbia University and NYU students held an alternative ceremony, “The People’s Graduation,” to honor students whose graduation was put at risk because of their pro-Palestine activism. The event featured speakers such as Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed el-Kurd, actor and activist Susan Sarandon, and Andrew Ross, an NYU professor who was arrested during a protest outside the Bobst Library last semester.

“I brought along my Ph.D. diploma,” Ross said. “If Logan is here this evening, he’s welcome to this. I’ll put his name on it because I sure as hell don’t need it anymore.”

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor