Sometimes, when an organization finds itself between a virtual Scylla and Charybdis, it just has to go with the least distasteful option. As an example of this, the University of Southern California (USC) on Friday announced it is calling off all speakers at its 2024 graduation ceremonies. Why? Because of the necessary cancellation of the 2024 valedictorian's speech, due to her support of virulent antisemitic statements.

USC said its decision to bar outside speakers from its 2024 commencement on May 10 is “to keep the focus on our graduates,” according to a statement posted on the university’s website Friday.

“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,” USC said in the statement. “It is important that our full attention be on our remarkable graduates.”

The university had planned to offer honorary degrees to filmmaker and alumnus Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians,” alumna Maria Rosario Jackson, tennis legend Billie Jean King and geophysicist Marcia McNutt, according to an April 12 post on USC’s website.

That's the "what." Here's the "why."

“Over the past several days, discussion relating to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor,” USC Provost Andrew Guzman said in an online campus-wide letter dated April 15. “The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement.”

The valedictorian in question, Asna Tabassum, is a Muslim--not that this matters in and of itself--but she is on record as sharing blatantly pro-Hamas, antisemitic statements.

As tensions in the Middle East rage on, Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has yielded a dire humanitarian crisis while stoking angst across the world as supporters of Israel and Palestinians advocate online and in the streets, many in support of a ceasefire.

USC student advocacy group Trojans for Israel accused Tabassum of sharing a link in the bio of her Instagram page that calls Zionism “a racist settler-colonial ideology” and advocates for the “complete abolishment” of Israel, it wrote in a social media post.

Tabassum – a first-generation South Asian American Muslim who studied biomedical engineering with a minor in resistance to genocide and an interest in global health care equity – said she posted the link three years ago as part of her commitment to stand up for human rights. She said the link details “what’s happening in Palestine, and how to help.”

This begs a few questions:

First, what the hell is a minor in "resistance to genocide" or "global health care equity"? Why is USC wasting time and money on professing this garbage to these young skulls full of mush? 

Second, whatever her grades in an actual subject - biomedical engineering - Tabassum has sure shown her capability for spewing fact-challenged talking points, like Israel being a "racist settler-colonial" place. Frankly, she has no idea what she's talking about. Hopefully whatever medical device manufacturer that hires her does their due diligence to see what a self-entitled, antisemitic piece of work they're getting.

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Tabassum obviously couldn't be trusted to deliver a traditional commencement address without launching into a tirade. So, if the university can't trust their valedictorian to deliver a properly respectful address, one that properly reflects the dignity of the occasion, best to drop all the speakers. That's sad, but it's probably the best they could do - and some of the USC administration should be taking a good hard look in the mirror. While USC made the best of a bad situation here, and while this is one of those cases of "one bad apple ruining it for everybody," this is also the result of an academic institution offering crap courses that represent indoctrination, not education.