U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will no longer be speaking at Xavier University of Louisiana’s commencement ceremony on Saturday.
The decision comes after students pressured the university to cancel her commencement address over her stances on the war in Gaza. This is the second school to cancel her commencement speech, following the University of Vermont’s decision last week.
University President Reynold Verret announced the decision to students in a Wednesday email.
“Everyone’s goal is to have a commencement ceremony that appropriately honors the graduates and their achievements,” Verret wrote. “The vast majority of students want to be able to enjoy a commencement ceremony free of disruptions. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with the commencement speaker as originally planned.”
When Thomas-Greenfield’s planned commencement address was announced last Sunday, students organized a petition demanding she be removed, which racked up nearly 1,800 signatures.
“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has repeatedly voted against a ceasefire in Gaza, resulting in the decimation of all 13 universities in Gaza, the loss of over 30,000 lives with thousands more remaining in the rubble from violence, and the continuation of the genocide in Gaza,” the petition said. “Palestinians in Gaza draw upon the experiences of their brothers and sisters in America during the segregation era.”
Prior to introducing a resolution to the U.N.’s Security Council calling for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza” in March, Thomas-Greenfield vetoed three other ceasefire resolutions. However, the U.N. ambassador said she voted against those measures because the United States could not support ceasefires that failed to acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense and did not require Hamas to free the hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack.
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It is unclear if the university will find a replacement.
Meanwhile, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, lost its keynote speaker, author Colson Whitehead, after he canceled his address due to his disapproval of the university calling police on the pro-Palestinian protesters.