Graduation controversies reported across US. Why does this happen?

Graduation season has come to a close across the country. It was filled with controversies.Show Caption

School's out forever, as high school and college graduation season in the United States draws to a close. But for some recent grads, their last few moments of school were marred by controversy.Graduation ceremonies around the country in recent weeks have made headlines for student valedictorians being cut off mid-sentence, guest speakers facing boos from audiences and even an allegation of a racist speech. Incidents happened in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and other states.On June 14, some graduating students at Stanford University walked out during a keynote address by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in protest of the company's ties to Israel, reported the BBC.In North Carolina, one high school graduation video went viral after a valedictorian went off-script to deliver a message to her classmates about using their voices to speak out about issues including immigration enforcement. She was interrupted and guided away from the microphone."We're not given a voice to stay silent," said Clayton High School valedictorian Leen Hijaz, the moment before her remarks were cut short.Over and over, school officials who interrupt or cut off the mics of speakers for delivering unapproved messages end up amplifying those messages even more. Videos of incidents this graduation season were widely shared on social media, turning the graduation controversies into national news."The outrage is usually the result of the response, not necessarily the thing that required (schools) to respond in the first place," Lisa Abramson, a higher education consultant who handles public relations crises for schools, previously told USA TODAY.Graduates boo speakers for mentioning AIAt multiple college graduation ceremonies around the country, graduates and audience members were seen booing and jeering speeches. The scene played out in Florida, Tennessee and Arizona this year. The topic that often struck a chord with students this year: artificial intelligence.Real estate development executive Gloria Caulfield was booed at the University of Central Florida after she called AI's rise the "next industrial revolution," reported the USA TODAY Network in Florida."AI sucks!" a voice in the audience yelled in a video of the ceremony as the crowd booed.At Middle Tennessee State University, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta was booed while talking about AI at the commencement ceremony for the school's college of media and entertainment, which is named after him, reported the Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network."Streaming rewrote the economics, social media rewrote the discovery model, AI is rewriting production as we sit here," he said. When the crowd started booing, he pushed back: "I know it. Deal with it. Like I said, it's a tool."Valedictorian's speech cut after unscripted message on immigrationA Clayton High School valedictorian was cut off during graduation after adding unscripted remarks about issues in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan and ICE.At Glendale Community College in Arizona, AI was booed for another reason. The school used an AI software to announce graduates' names as they received their diplomas. But the software botched or skipped hundreds of names, the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.Today's college students have mixed feelings about AI, Fabrizio Cariani, a professor and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Maryland who teaches a class called AI and the Human Experience, told USA TODAY in May. Some embrace it, while others worry about its impact on their potential job market or have faced threats of discipline for using it in school.Allegations of antisemitism roil high school graduationOne high school graduation in North Carolina was the subject of controversy when a valedictorian's speech was perceived by many as a racist dog whistle, reported the Wilmington StarNews, part of the USA TODAY Network.At the Hoggard High School graduation ceremony in Wilmington, valedictorian Kyler William Hosek ended his speech with a quote: "As my biggest inspiration once said, 'Every human being has something of value that they bring to the table.'"Some fellow students recognized that the quote was similar to one by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, in an interview laden with antisemitic comments years ago. One classmate, Sara Haley Rudeseal, grabbed the mic when it was time to receive her diploma to call it out, and was cut off while speaking. Other students were also outraged, Rudeseal said.Hosek later told the news outlet WWAY that he rejects antisemitism and asked people to view his speech in its entirety."My speech was about hope and optimism," Hosek told the outlet. "As my classmates and I start a new chapter in our lives, I wanted to encourage them to remember that every person has value and that we all have the ability to make a positive difference in the lives of others… I want to be clear that I reject antisemitism and hatred in all forms."How schools end up drawing more attention to controversyIn numerous cases in recent years, when student speakers touch on topics perceived as political or controversial, school officials have shut off their microphones, interrupted them or even withheld diplomas. But their actions tend to draw even more attention to the messages they tried to cut off, experts have said.An Ohio student at Cardington-Lincoln High School said parts of his graduation speech were removed from the script before he could deliver his remarks, and when he continued to speak after finishing the prepared remarks, he was interrupted, reported WBNS. Brandon Hughes, the valedictorian, told the outlet he wanted to deliver a message aimed at students who felt "less seen." School officials told the outlet they followed policy to review speeches and move on when they are finished."Freedom of speech does not apply to valedictorian speeches," he said during the ceremony, the outlet reported.In Washington state, the Tri-City Herald reported that a student who waved a Mexican flag as he received his diploma was removed from his school's video of the ceremony. The school said it removed his walk from the video because the flag did not "align with the district’s guidelines regarding approved items of cultural significance."One college sought to prevent controversial remarks from happening altogether in 2026. New York University told its student speakers at certain school-specific ceremonies that their speeches would be pre-recorded and played during the graduations instead of being delivered live, reported independent student newspaper Washington Square News. That move came a year after a speaker delivered a pro-Palestinian message during graduation.Student speakers don't generally have a right to free speech when it comes to delivering addresses at commencement, but schools should have an interest in fostering the expression of students' ideas, Sanford Ungar, the director of Georgetown University’s Free Speech Project, previously told USA TODAY."No one has a right to speak at any graduation, but it’s going to be a sad thing if it turns out that the only subject that’s acceptable to talk about at a graduation is the lovely weather," Ungar said in a 2024 interview.