USC president, provost censured by faculty senate over commencement cancelation

The University of Southern California’s Academic Senate, the body that represents the school’s faculty, voted to censure President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman Wednesday over what they said was the mishandling of the issues leading up to the cancellation of commencement, according to multiple reports.

The vote came after an hours-long meeting where members of the faculty criticized USC’s president and provost over the decision to pull valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech from the commencement ceremony, a move that was followed by the cancelation of all commencement speakers and the main graduation ceremony itself.

Members of USC’s Academic Senate, according to the Los Angeles Times, were also reportedly upset with “the posture of administrators toward” pro-Palestinian demonstrators on school grounds, some 93 of whom were arrested by LAPD.

The Academic Senate’s 21-7 vote for a resolution censuring Folt and Guzman cited “widespread dissatisfaction and concern” over the way the recent commencement related controversies were handled.

The resolution also recognized the senate’s endorsement of immediately creating a task force to investigate “campus events over the last several months related to the conflict in the Middle East” and file a public report on the findings by mid-September.

“Provost Guzman and I welcome ongoing engagement with the newly created task force,” Folt said in a statement to Annenberg Media. “For now, our focus is on celebrating the 19,000 graduates of the USC’s Class of 2024.”

A “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an event scheduled in place of commencement, is set to take place May 9.

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