Owen Decatur said he felt nervous in the minutes before he, along with his fellow Yale University graduates, planned on walking out of their own commencement ceremony. But those feelings faded as Decatur heard the chants nearby in support of the Palestinians.
“I got to see that our Dean Lewis of Yale College had to stop speaking and had to stop doing his conferrals,” Decatur said.
Decatur was one of hundreds who left the ceremony on Monday in a show of protest. The demonstration was the latest in an ongoing series of actions calling on Yale University to divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel with arms in its ongoing war in Gaza.
Decatur and other students said it made sense to walk out as a statement against what they say is their university’s support for Israel.
Some supportive faculty members joined the rally, which began on the university’s “Old Campus” and ended at the New Haven Green. Protesters chanted “It’s our Yale” along with other slogans as other graduates and their families milled about, or walked past them.
Yale University said in a statement that “a number of graduating students chose to peacefully walk out during the ceremony” and that university staff guided the students to an area outside the event. The ceremony continued as scheduled, officials noted.
“Yale is committed to promoting freedom of speech and expression,” the statement said.
Decatur said the protest was a way to reject his bachelor’s degree.
(Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public)
“It would symbolize a rejection of our degrees because we did not want a degree from an institution that continues to invest in weapons manufacturing that attributes to the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza,” Decatur said.
Other students who walked out included graduate Tadea Martin Gonzalez, who wants Yale to divest from weapons manufacturers. Martin Gonzalez pushed back on criticisms of the protest and noted that it is also her special day. However, she could not ignore the fact that nearly 90% of all schools in Gaza lay in ruins.
“Who are we to graduate? When many others who we carry in our memory do not have the privilege,” Martin Gonzalez said.
Fawn Cho, who is not a student at Yale, but is supportive of her sister who is, said she liked seeing the students exercise their free speech.
“It is interesting for all the people who come here to have different perspectives,” Cho said.
This story was first published May 20, 2024 by Connecticut Public.