LONDON: A microphone briefly cut out this week during a speech given at a graduation ceremony at Columbia University in the US, during which the speaker criticized the university’s stance on Gaza.
On Tuesday, student Saham David Ahmed Ali was giving a speech to graduates at the Mailman School of Public Health, in which she called for action against Israel and criticized the “silence on Columbia University’s campus.”
The microphone began to cut out during her speech, leading to students booing and chanting “let her speak” as Ali paused. She was later able to continue. It is unclear if the issue was caused by a technical fault or if the microphone was muted deliberately.
Ali said the university needed to reveal its dealings with companies “profiting off of Palestinian genocide” and that it should immediately divest from them.
She also demanded Columbia call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where Palestinian civilians currently face famine, according to the UN, as Israel continues its military campaign that has left over 35,000 people dead, many thousands more wounded, and hundreds of thousands displaced following the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7.
Columbia has witnessed significant protests across its campus since April 17 after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, testified before the US Congress about alleged incidents of antisemitism against Jewish students on its grounds.
Protestors have subsequently occupied parts of the campus including the university’s Hamilton Hall. The New York Police Department has arrested hundreds of people over the protests, which have also sparked similar movements at other major US colleges, as well as counter-demonstrations by students with Israeli and US flags.
Columbia has also taken the unusual step of canceling its commencement ceremony this year in the wake of the protests, only holding school-specific graduation ceremonies.
