In an all-community message shared Thursday morning, USC’s Office of Academic Events announced that there will be no main commencement ceremony this year.
“We will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus” the statement read.
The conferral of degrees will still be held at each individual school’s ceremony, which are continuing as scheduled— with added safety measures.
All events will be ticketed and accessed through “specific points of entry.” Graduates can reserve tickets, “free of charge” but only for “themself and up to eight named guests.” There is an appeal process for additional tickets. It in unclear if other students may attend graduation ceremonies or if they must have a previously reserved ticket on behalf of a graduate.
Security will be screening bags and people at each ceremony and will have a clear bag policy for attendees.
The message, with no singular author, writes that while the disruption is “disappointing,” the new changes are being made to ensure safety.
The messages links to the USC commencement website, where updates will be posted by Tuesday, April 30.
The decision comes after 93 arrests were made on campus yesterday following a protest calling on the school to divest from Israel.
Last week, all commencement main stage honorees, including main speaker Jon Chu, were released from attending this year’s ceremony following the decision that USC’s valedictorian Asna Tabassum would not be speaking due to unspecified security concerns. This came after a campaign was launched by pro-Israel groups to oust her from the valedictorian position over her political beliefs surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict, which they called anti-semitic.