数百名哈佛大学学生退出毕业典礼，抗议以色列与哈马斯战争

【中美创新时报2024 年 5 月 23 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）星期四，大约 30,000 名毕业生、家人和朋友聚集在哈佛庭院，参加该校第 373 届毕业典礼。数百名毕业生走出毕业典礼，头戴阿拉伯头巾，挥舞着巴勒斯坦国旗，高喊口号，以示抗议，扰乱了这场盛大的仪式和传统。《波士顿环球报》记者Alexa Coultoff、Hilary Burns 和 Daniel Kool 对此作了下述报道。

仪式结束了因以色列与哈马斯冲突而引发的异常动荡的学年，最终该大学决定禁止 13 名学生抗议者今天上午获得学位，因为他们参加了哈佛庭院为期三周的亲巴勒斯坦营地。这一决定显然加剧了哈佛毕业典礼上的骚乱，这场骚乱比今年春季迄今为止该地区任何其他大学的毕业抗议活动规模更大、声音更大、范围更广。

抗议者在走出去之前高呼“让他们走”等口号，一些人举着写有“为烈士”和“为加沙”的标语和横幅。抗议者沿着马萨诸塞大道游行到哈佛-埃普沃斯联合卫理公会教堂，他们和他们的盟友挤满了那里的每一个长椅，阳台和过道上还有数十人。

图片：一群亲巴勒斯坦的毕业生在毕业典礼结束后举行示威，封锁了剑桥哈佛广场的马萨诸塞大街。 大卫·L·瑞恩/GLOBE 工作人员

“欢迎来到人民毕业典礼，”组织者、哈佛法学院学生莉亚·卡亚利(Lea Kayali)说道，她启动了一系列学生和教职员工的演讲，人群欢呼雀跃，敲锣打鼓。

就在毕业典礼当天，哈佛大学最高管理委员会投票决定阻止这 13 名学生获得学位。这一决定令许多教职员工和学生感到震惊，他们认为抗议者因大学领导人面临的政治压力而受到不公平的惩罚，他们表示，他们只是试图将这些规则公平地应用于每个人。

来自纽约的哈佛家长佘诗曼·戈尔丁（Charmaine Golding ）表示，哈佛所面临的动荡时期证明了 2024 届毕业生的实力。

“他们非常有弹性，”她说。 “我们对正在发生的事情都有自己的看法，但我觉得他们应该有毕业典礼，他们应该享受这个毕业时期，因为他们在高中时没有得到它。”

包括哥伦比亚大学在内的一些大学取消了今年的主要毕业典礼，这对 2020 年高中毕业典礼在很大程度上被疫情毁掉的班级来说是一个独特的痛苦打击。来自芝加哥的迈克尔·贝尔斯利 (Michael Belsley) 在那里见证了他女儿马利 (Marleigh) 的毕业典礼，他对哈佛毕业典礼如期举行感到非常兴奋。

“这是新冠一代，他们错过了高中毕业，”52 岁的贝尔斯利说。

然而，随着仪式的临近，人们发现这不是一个普通的毕业典礼：亲巴勒斯坦的抗议者排列在围栏周围，悬挂以色列和美国国旗的飞机在头顶飞过，印有指责学生反犹太主义信息的卡车在校园里盘旋。

今年年初开始领导该大学的临时校长艾伦·加伯在开幕致辞中似乎提到了中东的苦难。

“对我们来说，这欢乐的时刻，”他说，“与其他我们无法理解的时刻同时发生。”

加伯说：“其他地方的人们正在经历一生中最糟糕的日子。” “无论在哪里，我们都是人类……在社区和仪式中寻找安慰，尽管可能很困难，但试图理解……彼此和我们自己。”

加伯结束演讲时，人群中的一些人发出了几秒钟的嘘声，然后陷入了短暂的沉默。

多位资深演讲者提到了校园里的骚乱，并告诉学生们要利用它来激发他们未来的激情。

“我认为哈佛是一面盾牌，我们拥有的一切——受过良好教育、勤奋、成功、美丽——都会保护我们免受世界问题的影响，”哈佛法学院的毕业生罗伯特·L·克林顿(Robert L. Clinton)说。 “但是我错了。”

他告诉老年人利用他们的脆弱性作为与他人联系的基础。 “我们将承担做出改变他人生活的决定的责任。”

第一代应届毕业生施鲁蒂·库马尔 (Shruthi Kumar) 告诉与会者，她对校园内缺乏言论自由感到失望。她说她的几个同学被人肉搜索了。

“这事关公民权利和维护民主原则，”库马尔说。“学生们发声了，老师们发声了……哈佛，你听到我们的声音了吗？”

人群爆发出热烈的掌声，一些人高呼“耻辱，耻辱，耻辱”，其他人则起立鼓掌。

上周，扎营的抗议者自愿拆除了在哈佛庭院为期三周的营地，并表示学校将对他们采取宽大的处罚。然而，该大学迅速对涉案学生实施了制裁，公司周三推翻了文理学院允许学生毕业的投票。哈佛大学不愿证实处罚措施，但学生抗议者表示，5 名本科生被勒令从哈佛学院退学，31 名学生因涉嫌参与营地活动而被留校察看。学生将被允许对处罚提出上诉。

埃里克·托雷斯·冈萨雷斯 (Erick Torres Gonzalez) 是 13 名被禁止毕业的高年级学生之一，他的长袍上披着头巾。他被允许参加周四的仪式，但不会获得学位。

“我感到焦虑、紧张和沮丧，”他和一群朋友站在仪式前说道。“我很高兴能够和我的朋友们一起在这里毕业，但我会在没有[文凭]的情况下离开，这真是苦乐参半。”

哈佛家长本·阿尔珀斯(Ben Alpers)在仪式前接受采访时表示，他认为哈佛对这一情况的处理相对较好。

“如果我的孩子从哥伦比亚大学、纽约大学、加州大学洛杉矶分校，或者任何试图以这种或那种方式打压的学校毕业，我的感觉就会不那么积极，”他说。

阿尔珀斯本人也是哈佛大学毕业生，他说他在参加颁奖典礼时感到“高兴且充满自豪”。

阿尔珀斯的母亲斯维特兰娜也毕业于哈佛大学，她表示，尽管她热爱母校，但她对管理委员会不让学生毕业的决定感到失望。

“监督者不应该否决教师的意见，我认为这很糟糕，”她说。“今天的第一件坏事。”

随着仪式的进行，外界的强烈抗议仍在继续。去年秋天，州外的保守派团体驾驶卡车穿过哈佛广场，上面贴着与以色列有争议的声明有关的学生照片，给他们贴上“反犹太分子”的标签，周四早上返回哈佛广场。其中一辆卡车展示了哈佛公司成员的姓名和照片，据称“为代词提供了比犹太学生更多的保护”，并循环浏览了去年与一封有争议的信件有关的学生的照片和全名。

一架悬挂美国和以色列国旗的直升机飞过头顶。有人拿着扩音器喊道：“自由，自由的巴勒斯坦！”

但对某些人来说，所有这些都是背景噪音。

德隆·布鲁斯特说，他的女儿卡桑德拉是他家族中第一个从哈佛大学这样的“精英院校”毕业的人。

“有些日子非常具有挑战性，但她坚持了下来，”布鲁斯特在等待重要时刻到来时说道。“我对家人说，‘我今天没有哭。过去的四年都是在哭泣。今天是一个值得庆祝的时刻。’”

布鲁斯特说，他身边的中学生女儿希望“追随她姐姐的脚步”。

艾米·通斯特罗姆 (Amy Thunstrom) 和她的女儿丹妮卡 (Danika) 从明尼苏达州前往剑桥看望丹妮卡 (Danika) 的妹妹加布里埃尔 (Gabrielle) 的毕业典礼。他们说，很难向家乡的人们描述在哈佛校园里的感觉。

“这真是太神奇了——无以言表，”艾米·瑟恩斯特罗姆说。

题图：周四上午，数百名毕业生走出哈佛大学校园的毕业典礼，呼吁人们关注巴勒斯坦人的困境。（《波士顿环球报》视频截图）

附原英文报道：

Hundreds of Harvard students walk out of commencement ceremony in protest of Israel-Hamas war

By Alexa Coultoff, Hilary Burns and Daniel Kool Globe Correspondent, Globe Staff  and Globe Correspondent,Updated May 23, 2024 

CAMBRIDGE — Some 30,000 graduates, family, and friends filled Harvard Yard Thursday for the university’s 373rd commencement, a ceremony whose pageantry and tradition was disrupted by hundreds of graduating students who walked out of the ceremony in protest, wearing keffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags, and chanting.

The ceremony capped an academic year marked by extraordinary unrest over the Israel-Hamas conflict, culminating in the university’s decision to bar 13 student protesters from receiving their degrees this morning because of their participation in the three-week pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard. That decision apparently contributed to the intensity of the disruption at Harvard’s commencement, which was far larger, louder, and more extensive than graduation protests at any other university in the region thus far this spring.

“Let them walk,” the protesters chanted, among other messages, before walking out, some holding signs and banners “for the martyrs” and “for Gaza” written on them. The protesters marched down Massachusetts Avenue to the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, where they and their allies filled every pew, with dozens more in the balconies and aisles.

A group of Pro-Palestinian graduates blocked off Massachusetts Ave in Harvard Square Cambridge during a demonstration after they walked out of their commencement ceremony. DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

“Welcome to the Peoples’ Commencement,” said organizer and Harvard Law student Lea Kayali, kicking off a string of student and faculty speakers, to as the crowd cheered and pounded on drums.

Commencement Day came a day after the Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing board, voted to keep the 13 students from receiving their degrees. The decision shocked many faculty members and students who felt the protesters were being unfairly punished because of political pressure on university leaders, who said they were simply trying to apply the rules fairly to everyone.

Charmaine Golding, a Harvard parent from New York, said the tumultuous period Harvard has faced is a testament to the strength of the Class of 2024.

”They are very resilient,” she said. “We all have our views on what is going on, but I feel they should have their commencement, and they should enjoy this graduation period because they didn’t get it in high school.”

Some universities, including Columbia, canceled their main graduation ceremonies this year, a uniquely painful blow to a class whose 2020 high school graduation was largely ruined by the pandemic. Michael Belsley, of Chicago, was there to see his daughter Marleigh graduate, and thrilled that Harvard’s commencement was happening as planned.

“This is COVID generation, they missed their high school graduation,” said Belsley, 52.

As the ceremony drew near, though, it became apparent that this would be no ordinary commencement: Pro-Palestinian protesters lined the perimeter fence, planes flying Israeli and American flags flew overhead, and trucks emblazoned with messages accusing students of antisemitism circled the campus.

In his opening remarks, interim President Alan Garber, who began leading the university early this year, seemed to reference the suffering in the Middle East.

“This moment of joy for us,” he said, “coincides with moments for others we cannot comprehend.”

“Elsewhere people are experiencing the worst days of their lives,” Garber said. “Here and there, we are all human beings … finding comfort in communities and rituals, trying, as difficult as it may be, to make sense of … one another and of ourselves.”

As Garber concluded his speech, some in the crowd booed for several seconds before hushing into a moment of silence.

Multiple senior speakers mentioned the turmoil on campus and told students to use it to fuel their passions in the future.

“I thought that Harvard was a shield, and all the things that we are — well educated, hardworking, successful, beautiful — would protect us from the problems of the world,” said Robert L. Clinton, a graduating Harvard Law School student. “But I was wrong.”

He told seniors to use their vulnerability as basis for connecting with others. “We will bear responsibility for making decisions that will change other peoples’ lives.”

Shruthi Kumar, a first-generation graduating senior, told those gathered she was disappointed by what she called a lack of free expression on campus. She said several of her classmates had been doxxed.

“This is about civil rights and upholding democratic principles,” Kumar said. “The students had spoken, the faculty have spoken…. Harvard, do you hear us?”

The crowd erupted into applause, some chanting “shame, shame, shame,” as others rose in a standing ovation.

The encamped protesters dismantled their three-week encampment in Harvard Yard voluntarily last week, with the understanding that the university would be lenient in punishing them. The university, however, swiftly imposed sanctions on the students involved, and the Corporation on Wednesday overrode a Faculty of Arts and Sciences vote to allow the students to graduate. The university would not confirm the penalties, but student protesters said five undergraduate students were ordered to withdraw from Harvard College and 31 were placed on probation for their alleged involvement in the encampment. The students will be allowed to appeal the penalties.

Erick Torres Gonzalez, one of the 13 seniors barred from graduation, wore a keffiyeh draped over his robe; he was allowed to participate in Thursday’s ceremony but would not receive his degree.

“I’m feeling anxious and nervous and frustrated,” he said, standing with a group of friends before the ceremony. “I love that I’m able to be here with my friends and graduate but it’s bittersweet that I’ll be walking away without a [diploma].”

Ben Alpers, a Harvard parent, in an interview before the ceremony, said he thought Harvard had handled the situation relatively well.

“I would be feeling less positive if my kid were graduating from Columbia or NYU or UCLA, or any of these schools that tried to crack down in one way or another,” he said.

A Harvard graduate himself, Alpers said he felt “happy and full of pride” going into the ceremony.

Alpers’ mother, Svetlana, also graduated from Harvard and said although she loves her alma mater, she was disappointed by the governing board’s decision not to let the students graduate.

”The overseers should not have overruled the faculty, I think that’s terrible,” she said. “The first bad thing about today.”

Intense protests from outsiders continued as the ceremony got under way. The out-of-state conservative group that last fall drove trucks through Harvard Square emblazoned with pictures of students linked to a controversial statement on Israel, labeling them “Antisemites,” returned to Harvard Square Thursday morning. One of its trucks displayed the names and photos of the members of the Harvard Corporation, which it said “provides more protection to pronouns than Jewish students,” and cycled through photos and full names of students who had been associated with a controversial letter last year.

A helicopter flying American and Israeli flags flew overhead. And someone with a megaphone shouted, “Free, free Palestine!”

For some, though, all of this was background noise.

Delon Brewster said his daughter Cassandra is the first in his family to graduate from “an elite institution” like Harvard.

“Some days were pretty challenging but she persevered,” Brewster said, as he waited for the big moment to arrive. “I said to my family, ‘I am not crying today. The last four years have been for crying. Today is a celebratory moment.’ ”

Brewster said his middle school-aged daughter, who was by his side, hopes to “follow in her big sister’s footsteps.”

Amy Thunstrom and her daughter, Danika, traveled from Minnesota traveled to Cambridge to see Danika’s sister, Gabrielle, graduate. They said it would be hard to describe to people back home in their small town what it was like to be on Harvard’s campus.

“It’s just amazing — there are no words,” Amy Thurnstrom said.