Over 150 USC professors and faculty members have signed a letter this week calling on the university to allow valedictorian Asna Tabbassum to deliver her speech at next month’s commencement ceremony.
“We call on Provost [Andrew] Guzman to reinstate the Valedictorian’s opportunity to speak at commencement,” the letter drafted by Devin Griffiths, a USC professor of English, reads. “We are proud of the extraordinary work our Valedictorian has done to be given this opportunity, work reflective of the excellence of our student body. It is an honor that should not be revoked because we live in troubled times. Rather, it is in troubled times that we should recommit to our core values and the mission of the University of Southern California.”
Alan Mittelstaedt, a journalism professor at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said he signed to support Tabassum’s right to speak.
“I’m not going to say I believe everything she says or support everything she does any more than I support anything that anybody else says,” he said. “But I don’t have to agree with everything somebody says, to protect their right to speak.”
The letter was drafted in response to the university’s Monday announcement that Tabassum would not be speaking at graduation due to safety concerns.
“After careful consideration, we have decided that our student valedictorian will not deliver a speech at commencement,” the school said in a statement. “While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety. This decision is not only necessary to maintain the safety of our campus and students but is consistent with the fundamental legal obligation – including the expectations of federal regulators – that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe.”
Ariela Gross, a UCLA Law professor who once taught at USC’s Gould School of Law, said she was disappointed by her former university’s decision.
“She was clearly a well-qualified valedictorian, and traditionally, the valedictorian speaks at commencement,” Gross said. “Then claiming security concerns seemed like a pretty obvious fig leaf for silencing her speech.”
Gabriel Kahn, another Annenberg professor, also decided to sign the petition.
“Here is a talented young woman who was chosen as valedictorian, who has expressed some opinions that I don’t agree with, and I’m not clear what the red line is and when somebody crosses that in a situation like this, and I would rather give her the opportunity to speak and say what she needs to say.”
Immediately after the university’s announcement, the Los Angeles Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued its own statement, calling the decision “cowardly.”
“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security.’ Asna is an incredibly accomplished student whose academic and extracurricular accomplishments made her the ideal and historic recipient of this year’s valedictorian’s honor,” executive director Hussam Ayloush said. “The university can, should, and must ensure a safe environment for graduation rather than taking the unprecedented step of canceling a valedictorian’s speech.”
Guzman told the Academic Senate, the representative body of the entire faculty at USC, that the decision had “nothing to do with [Tabassum’s] political views.” But many on campus feel differently.
On Thursday, approximately 200 students marched through campus with signs that read, “Let her speak,” and “Silencing one silences us all.”
Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim, was named valedictorian for the Class of 2024 after being evaluated by the Valedictorian Selection Committee.
The university has yet to further comment on this year’s commencement speaker and valedictorian.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Ariela Gross as a current USC professor at the Gould School of Law. Gross now teaches law at UCLA after leaving USC in 2023.