The Class of 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, will no longer be speaking at this year’s upcoming commencement ceremony, Provost Andrew Guzman announced in a communitywide email Monday afternoon.

“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,” the statement read.

The unprecedented cancellation came less than one week after pro-Israel groups accused Tabassum of “promoting antisemitic views.” An Instagram post from @israelwarroom and other prominent accounts cited past pro-Palestinian posts that she liked and a link in her bio with statements that called Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology” and advocated for the abolishment of the state of Israel.

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On April 11, Trojans for Israel also published a statement to their Instagram page, denouncing Tabassum for supporting “antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric,” and calling on President Carol Folt and the University to “reconsider” their selection for valedictorian. 

In his statement, Guzman wrote that the University’s cancellation of Tabassum’s valedictory address had “nothing to do with freedom of speech” and that there is “no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement.” 

On the same day that the Office of the Provost announced the cancellation, Tabassum released a personal statement on the website for the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemning the University for having “abandoned” her, and taking the opportunity to clarify her beliefs. 

“I am a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim whose passion for service stems from the experience of my grandparents, who were unable to access lifesaving medical technology because they had been displaced by communal violence,” Tabassum wrote. “I was hoping to use my commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope. By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred.”

Tabussum went on to write that she was “not aware” of any specific threats to her safety, and that Guzman and Associate Senior Vice President of Safety and Risk Assurance Erroll Southers declined to share details about alleged safety concerns uncovered in the University’s threat assessment. 

“[I] was told that the University had the resources to take appropriate safety measures for my valedictory speech, but that they would not be doing so since increased security protections is not what the University wants to ‘present as an image,’” Tabassum wrote. 

In a statement to the Daily Trojan, the University denied that the school declined to use available resources to increase security protections during her speech, saying Tabassum’s version of events was “not accurate.” When pressed on what would be considered accurate, USC declined to comment. 

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Southers said the University received threats relating to Tabassum via email, phone calls and letters, with some individuals even saying they would “come to campus as early as this week.” 

Southers did not provide any further information about the threats to the L.A. Times. The University also declined to disclose any specifics around threat assessments “in the interest of safety and security.” 

The USC Palestine Justice Faculty Group condemned Guzman’s decision to cancel Tabassum’s speech in a statement posted to its Instagram page.

“The Provost’s action is another example of USC’s egregious pattern of supporting anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism,” the statement read. “We demand that this decision be revoked immediately.”

Jewish Voice for Peace USC and the USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation also posted online, calling on community members to email the University to reinstate Tabassum’s graduation speech. 

The Valedictorian and Salutatorian Selection Committee and the Office of the Provost picked Tabassum out of a pool of nearly 100 applicants who qualified for consideration based on their GPA’s. The applicants were then assessed each based on the breadth of the their academic programs and quality of their essay submissions. The committee’s review did not include applicants’ social media presence.

Although Tabassum will no longer speak at commencement, the University confirmed that she will remain the Class of 2024’s valedictorian. 

In her statement, Tabassum addressed the USC community directly, encouraging students to exercise more compassion. 

“I implore my USC classmates to think outside the box—to work towards a world where cries for equality and human dignity are not manipulated to be expressions of hatred,” Tabassum wrote. “I urge us to see past our deepest fears and recognize the need to support justice for all people, including the Palestinian people.”

This is a developing story and will be updated with new information.