NYU Withholds Student's Diploma After Pro-Palestine Graduation Speech: 'One-Sided Political Views'

New York University is withholding the diploma of a student commencement speaker after they used their time to deliver a pro-Palestine graduation speech, which the university said was not approved.

The student, identified as Logan Rozos, began his speech in a shaky voice, saying that "the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

The room proceeded to erupt into applause and cheering before Rozos continued his speech, in which he referred to the war in Gaza as a "genocide."

"I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months," Rozos said. "I do not wish only to speak to my own politics today but to speak for all people of conscience who feel the moral injury of this atrocity and I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide."

Throughout Rozos' speech, both cheers and angry shouts could be heard sparingly from the crowd. When Rozos left the podium, the crowd burst into applause once more.

The university said in a statement that it "strongly denounces" the student's decision "to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views.

"He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The University is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions," NYU said.

"NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him," the university continued.

Rozos' speech has been met with mixed reactions. After the speech was shared to TikTok, several users commended him, noting that Rozos' voice was shaking and cracking at times.

"You can tell he was nervous but he did amazing," one user commented. Another wrote, "Mad respect to him for speaking up."

Meanwhile, the speech was also shared to Instagram by the account "EndJewHatred" who called the ceremony "pure, unchecked Jew-hatred." Several users called the speech "disgusting" under the account's video, and slammed Rozos for not mentioning the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Rozos has not publicly addressed the responses to his speech. His student page on NYU has since been deactivated.