The year 2020 was marked, for many, by pain and trauma. The coronavirus pandemic engulfed the world. Lockdowns and subsequent remote learning brought drastic changes, the effects of which still reverberate years later. When it came time to graduate, many high school seniors were forced to walk not the stage of an auditorium, but often their own living rooms as their names were called. Others had no graduation ceremony at all.

Four years removed from the chaos, those same graduates are now seniors at USC — readying their caps and gowns, adorning their sashes and climbing Traveler for their photoshoots. But the commencement they were looking forward to as a final celebration of their academic achievements is itself facing a “redesign”: The University announced Friday it would be “releasing” all outside speakers and honorees from the main stage ceremony after four days of backlash for their decision to cut Asna Tabassum’s valedictory address.

The Daily Trojan spoke to some graduating seniors who voiced their confusion and disappointment about the decision.

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

“We will not forgive you”

For Salma Durra, a senior majoring in biochemistry who is Palestinian and Jordanian, the naming of this year’s valedictorian was a special moment — before USC decided to “silence her as a result of standing up for human rights and doing the right thing,” Durra said. The University had faced complaints and threats after Tabassum was found to have engaged with anti-Zionist content on social media.

“When she got nominated … it was honestly the first time that I really felt seen by the University,” Durra said. “When they took that away, it essentially showed me what their attitude is to women like me.”

Now with all outside commencement speakers released from the main ceremony alongside Tabassum, Durra said she was “baffled.”

“It’s bad enough already that the Class of 2020 didn’t have a graduation because of COVID,” she said. “Now, our next graduation has been screwed by the University.”

Durra spoke directly to President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman, who made and announced, respectively, the initial decision regarding Tabassum’s speech.

“Your Middle Eastern, South Asian and Muslim students see you,” Durra said. “They see what you’ve done, and we will not forgive you.”

“We don’t really care to hear anybody else speak”

Maideh Orangi, a co-executive director of the Middle Eastern and North African Student Assembly, had also wanted to see Tabassum speak, as someone who — like the valedictorian — is Muslim, wears a hijab and is pro-Palestine. But canceling Tabassum’s address, and then all outside commencement speakers, made the ceremony “hollowed out and … pretty meaningless,” she said.

“We don’t care to hear anything they have to say,” said Orangi, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, referring to the administrators who would likely still speak at the ceremony. “Not only have they silenced all ways in which we wanted to be celebrated and recognized, but they also have no … valuable information or insights that I care to hear on one of the most celebratory days of my life.”

A lost opportunity for Asian American representation

Among the speeches canceled in Friday’s announcement was that of commencement speaker Jon M. Chu, a USC alum and filmmaker who, among a plethora of other works, directed the Hollywood blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). Rocco Wu, a senior majoring in interactive media and games, said he had been looking forward to hearing from someone “who’s not only a big leader” in the Asian American community, but “also a Trojan.”

“I’m sure his message, and what he wants to do that day, is to inspire people,” Wu said. “He wants us to come together, and he wants to inspire us, so that the next day, we might have a north star … Taking away people from a platform that people and students like me are eager to hear from — it’s like taking away a representation.”

For first-generation students, frustration is even greater

For some graduating seniors, the upcoming commencement will be the first their families would attend. This year, especially, one senior majoring in global health — like other first-generation college students — expected to finally bring their loved ones to a proper graduation after the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic forced them to partake in a “drive-through” high school graduation ceremony.

Then came the news that there would be no outside speakers. 

When the senior, who requested anonymity for fear of their safety, read the University’s statement that it was “redesigning the commencement program,” it prompted flashbacks to the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve already had almost two or three years of redesigning everything,” the senior said. “I came into USC experiencing Trojan Check, literally all that, and then to have to finish college with a similar note — it’s just frustrating.”

The frustration was only greater, the senior said, when added with the financial and logistical difficulties of studying at a private institution as a first-generation student. But they still planned to attend the main ceremony, given its importance to her and her family, and with the hope that the University would “rectify the situation.”

“Please listen to your students,” the senior said, when asked if they had a message for administration. “Give us the most traditional graduation experience, and even go above and beyond for us, because we have literally lost so much … [In] speeches last year, all I heard was, ‘Oh, COVID, COVID, COVID,’ and students being resilient; so why don’t you recognize that resilience by showing us that you care?”