Jon M. Chu Among Speakers USC Decided to ‘Release’ From Commencement

Jon M. Chu Among Speakers USC Decided to ‘Release’ From Commencement – The University of Southern California has decided to “exempt” guest speakers and honorees from attending this year’s commencement on May 10.

Among those who were to feature in the main launch event. Wicked Filmmaker Jon M. Cho as commencement speaker, and honorees include tennis stars Billie Jean King, Maria Rosario Jackson and Marcia McNutt.

“To keep the focus on our graduates, we are redesigning the commencement program,” Univ shared in a memo Friday. “Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main stage commencement event, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from participating in this year’s event.”

“We are speaking to this exceptional group and hope to confer these honorary degrees at future commencements or other academic events,” the message continued.

The news comes as USC faced a wave of criticism this week after the private Los Angeles university announced that its valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, a first-generation Muslim student. Do not provide a starting address. – Breaking school tradition.

The university made the decision after campus Jewish organizations, including Trojans for Israel, expressed opposition to her being the commencement speaker, citing a pro-Palestinian social media link shared by Tabsem.

While USC said it canceled the speech due to security concerns, adding that it had received notice that commencement would be disrupted, Tabassum said in a statement that he was “surprised” by the school’s decision and ” Very disappointed.”

“Serious doubts remain as to whether USC’s decision to rescind my speaking invitation was based solely on safety,” he added, questioning the university’s reasoning.

After it was revealed that Tabassum’s speech had been cancelled, USC faced several days of protests as people demanded her reinstatement as speaker.