CHICAGO – Graduation is an important moment for many Americans. More than just pomp and revelry, the ceremony is when students are awarded the most prestigious honor in academic life: a diploma.
But some college students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests lost their degrees because of their campus activism — at least for a while.
“Four years and a criminal record, nothing else,” said Yusuf Haswe, one of four University of Chicago students whose degrees have been put on hold because of the protest camp investigation. “A decade of hard work (in high school and college) was wasted because I decided to express my freedom of speech.”
Students who are being denied scholarships – some of whom have been arrested, expelled, suspended and subjected to other disciplinary action – say they are stuck in limbo and being made an example of. While they await the outcome of the appeals process and university investigations, they are preparing for an uncertain future. In the worst case, they will be in debt and have no degree to show for it.
But, while the stakes are high, they told USA TODAY that none of them regret their role in the campus protests against Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
“I’m getting these punishments and I’m having to deal with this stress, but it doesn’t compare to the plight of the Palestinians,” said Devron Burks, a Vanderbilt student who was arrested and expelled after occupying a campus building. “I don’t regret it, and I don’t think I ever will.”
‘We will be left degree-less and unemployed’
Hasweh, who has been active in pro-Palestinian protests since the Israel-Hamas war began, received an email about a week before graduation that his degree would not be awarded.
“I have recently received several complaints about Quad Encampment reporting issues involving disruptive conduct. In investigating the matter, you have been identified as an individual who may have been involved,” Jeremy W. Inabinett, an associate dean of students, wrote to Haswe in an email dated May 24. “Given the fact that you will be involved in the disciplinary system for disruptive conduct and in consultation with the faculty dean, your degree will not be awarded until this matter has been resolved.”
Inabinet said Hasweh would be allowed to attend graduation ceremonies on Saturday. But the dean of students said that could change if the university receives any further reports of abuse.
Hasaweh is a political science student whose family lives in the West Bank. He suspects the university singled him and three of his classmates out because they were among a group arrested for illegal entry for participating in a pro-Palestinian sit-in in the fall. The arrests sparked an eight-month investigation at the school, which ended with the students being warned. Hasaweh fears they will not be released again.
“Everything has been brought back to life, and we’re gambling on eviction,” he said. “We’ll be degreeless and unemployed and stuck in this impossible situation.”
Though the university did not respond to specific questions about the arrests, it said Statement on Disciplinary Proceedings that “depending on the resolution, degrees may be awarded expeditiously.”
Vanderbilt student loses job offer after diploma withheld
Burks, an expelled student from Vanderbilt University, is preparing for a frightening scenario: no degree and a pile of student debt.
The 21-year-old student, along with about two dozen other students, occupied the administration building for more than 10 hours before campus police broke up the protest. Most of them were placed on interim suspension, while Burke and two others were arrested for assault and later expelled. in a statementThe university said three students pushed a community service officer and a staff member and forced their way into the building — a claim Burke has denied.
Burks, who uses they/them pronouns, spent several hours in a detention room before being released. After being barred from campus, Burks was evicted from his apartment and has been sleeping in Airbnbs and on friends’ couches for the past several weeks.
Instead of standing on stage to applause in a 30,000-seat football stadium, Burke graduated a few days early in a Nashville backyard. In front of a few dozen students, faculty members and local activists, Burke received a fake diploma and a superlative: “Most likely to go on a date after this.”
Now at home in Georgia, Burks is looking for work amid an arduous appeals process to get his degree. The psychology student has already had one job offer rescinded.
“This has been the most stressful time,” Burks said. “I can’t move forward with my life without getting a degree.”
Harvard won’t award degrees until at least 2026, student says
Harvard University has barred from graduating several students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Statement Student Organizers.
Sid Sanders, a senior who won’t receive his degree until May 2026, told USA Today he was “shocked” by the university’s decision, and said he and his fellow students were being punished for preventing others from protesting.
“It’s crazy,” said Sanders, 22. “It’s a really sneaky move on the part of the school, and I think it shows where they stand on freedom of speech.”
Harvard spokesman Jonathan Palumbo said in an email that the university “does not comment on specific student disciplinary matters.”
Sanders said his family is upset with the school and disappointed they didn’t get to see Sanders walk in convocation. In Belfast, Maine, where he became one of the country’s first openly transgender high school valedictorians, Sanders is looking for work as a labor organizer.
“I’m going to move on with my life,” he said. “I’m filing my appeal, so I’ll try to get my diploma, I guess. But right now I’m really excited to get away from that place.”
Degrees of two Princeton students at risk
The degrees of two seniors are in limbo pending the outcome of an investigation into a protest at an annual Princeton University alumni event.
Video shows that during President Christopher Eisgruber’s address on May 25, protesters stood up, raised their red-painted hands and chanted slogans in support of Palestine. After a few minutes, the protesters moved out and continued protesting outside.
Khari Franklin, one of two seniors who did not receive a degree, was inside the auditorium but did not participate in the demonstration, he said. The Daily PrincetonianHe said he decided to leave to avoid any potential discipline 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 university practice that when senior students are involved in alleged disciplinary infractions shortly before convocation, their degrees are withheld until the disciplinary investigation is complete,” Princeton University spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said in a statement.
“The university continues to enforce neutral viewpoint rules in terms of time, place, and manner during year-end events. A wide variety of protest activities are permitted, including walking out of an event. Significant disruption of university operations and programs is not permitted.”
On Monday, Franklin received an email informing him that while he could attend commencement ceremonies, he would not be awarded a diploma until the investigation was complete.
“It’s very surreal. Because on the one hand, I didn’t think the university would go this far, and take such a drastic step … without any indication or warning or reasonable expectation that any rules had been broken,” he told the student newspaper. “But at the same time, I’m not surprised.”
Disciplinary actions will continue until the summer break
Dozens of students at several schools are facing the threat of suspension and other disciplinary action.
Columbia University administrators have handed interim suspensions to more than 30 students, which could become permanent, according to the Columbia University Apartheid Division, Coalition of Pro-Palestinian Students Barnard College students protesting in Columbia have also been suspended, the group said.
Neither Barnard nor Columbia, which has been at the center of college protests for months, responded to requests for comment.
In Florida, administrators at New College said students who disrupted the May 17 convocation by chanting “boo” and “free Palestine” could have their degrees withheld and face suspension. New College is a progressive public liberal arts school that Republicans say is being transformed into a conservative institution.
“We support and protect the right to freedom of expression, with a strong emphasis on civil discourse,” the school said in a statement. “The disruptive actions of a few individuals at a formal event attended by hundreds of people represent none of these principles.”
“I will do this a thousand times”
University of Chicago student Hasweh dreamed about getting into the prestigious college for years, but he didn’t get in. Now the graduation weekend he’s been looking forward to will be filled with disappointment, not just for him but for his family as well.
“How can a mother not be angry that the school that was supposed to take care of her child is the one that is brutalizing him,” Hasweh said.
Still, Haswe’s resolve remains intact.
He said, “Even if I don’t get the degree, I would do this job a thousand times.”
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