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‘This wouldn’t be Berkeley without a protest’: Cal commencement proceeds amid pro-Palestine student demonstration

UC Berkeley’s graduation on Saturday was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters — beginning with a small group rising in the bleachers in the student section and ending with hundreds of students occupying an entire section at Memorial Stadium.

For the Class of 2024, it was an atypical graduation to wrap up an atypical college experience, which began in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic with students signing in remotely to online classes. Having missed out on their high school graduation, so many of these graduates and their families felt a celebration was long past due.

The protests were a stark juxtaposition to the feelings of excitement and hope among the new graduates.

“People are out here celebrating this great achievement of theirs, but meanwhile, people are dying,” protester and Class of 2024 graduate Rebekah Joy told this news organization, referring to the 35,000 Palestinians killed by Israel’s military operation in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7. “How could I not be here?”

The protest began during Chancellor Carol Christ’s welcome address when a few dozen protesters stood, waving Palestinian flags and leading chants of “Hey Hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go.”

Christ was able to continue with her comments, but Berkeley officials on stage paused the student speaker Sydney Roberts’ speech to warn protesters that they would be asked to leave if they did not stop.

“This wouldn’t be Berkeley without a protest, so I get it,” Roberts said, returning to the podium.

As the program continued, nearly 50 students left the stands to walk to the top of Memorial Stadium. For a moment, it appeared as if they might leave — but then the group turned and started to file into a section of the bleachers just behind the stage.

Within the next 20 minutes, they were joined by hundreds of their classmates, some wearing keffiyehs and graduation caps emblazoned with “Viva Palestina.” They stood on the metal bleachers, stomping and leading rallying cries of “Free, free Palestine,” drowning out the graduation speakers’ voices for those sitting nearby.

As protesters walked down the aisles past the crowds, they were met with some jeers from audience members.

“Go back to Gaza,” yelled one man at a protester donning a keffiyeh.

“I am from Gaza,” she responded.

“You’re ruining it for everyone,” another man shouted after the group.

To the backdrop of chants and stomping, the graduation program continued as planned. The 6,700 students graduating this year did not walk across the stage, as they often have in past years.

After the ceremony ended, families and students walked out of the stadium to a wall of more protesters — community members mixing with recent graduates — who hoisted signs demanding that the University of California divest from companies doing business with Israel.

A little ways past the protest, graduates gathered with family and friends, fanning themselves with programs in the heat of a sunny Berkeley afternoon.

Graduation meant different things to different people. For BJ Guinn, it was the culmination of a 17-year journey: He began at Cal in 2007 as a student athlete on the baseball team and played for three years until he was recruited by the San Diego Padres. He played baseball professionally before coming back to Cal in 2018, taking on a full class load while also working as an assistant coach for the baseball team.

“I made a deal with my mom that if I left early to play professionally, I would come back eventually,” Guinn said, as he bounced his 5-month-old daughter, Mia, in his lap. “I’ve just been chipping away at it.”

Meanwhile, just above the student section, friends Hannah Hansraj and Abby Yu reflected on their last four years.

“It’s surreal to finally get a graduation experience,” Hansraj said.

Yu and Hansraj met in an online class freshman year, with Yu signing in from Boston and Hansraj from Chicago. They ended up getting closer during junior year when they moved into a house together off campus. Yu plans to move back to Boston this summer, but she’s grateful for the community she found in Berkeley.

“At a school as big as Berkeley, your community is your rock in an ocean full of people,” she said. “These are friends I know I’ll have the rest of my life.”