A letter announcing the release of outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony was made available Friday afternoon. The announcement was not distributed via email to the USC community, it was posted only on the USC commencement website.
The reasoning behind the decision to no longer include speakers and honorees is attributed to the highly publicized circumstances surrounding the May 10 ceremony to be held in Alumni Park.
Earlier this week, Provost Andrew T. Guzman announced valedictorian Asna Tabassum will not be speaking at the ceremony due to “safety concerns.” The decision has caused campus-wide protests and national coverage of this year’s graduation, including petitions and faculty letters calling to reinstate Tabassum’s speech.
Another reason cited was to give “full attention” to the over 19,000 graduates.
Honorary degrees are traditionally given out at commencement to highlight extraordinary academic, profession and community contributions. The university “hope[s] to confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”
The 2024 honorees included filmmaker and alumnus, Jon M. Chu, trailblazing tennis player and Annenberg ceremony speaker Billie Jean King along with Maria Rosario and Marcia McNutt.
USC confirmed award-winning director Chu as its main commencement speaker on March 7. Currently, the post on USC’s commencement website which announced Chu as the keynote speaker is no longer available.
This is the latest information given about the 2024 commencement.
USC’s Public Relations Office has not yet specified what the ceremony will look like in this “redesign.” It is also unclear how this will affect school specific ceremonies.