University of Michigan professor defends pro-Palestinian commencement remarks: “Michigan is not a finishing school”
By Paula Wethington
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ANN ARBOR, Michigan (WWJ) — Controversy has erupted over a history professor’s remarks during the University of Michigan spring commencement program Saturday in Ann Arbor.
Derek R. Peterson, a history professor and the outgoing Faculty Senate Chair, “made remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict that were hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community,” U-M president Domenico Grasso said later in the day.
Grasso said that Peterson “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony.” Furthermore, the remarks made “were inappropriate and do not represent our institutional position.” The college president said in response that he will work in the coming weeks with university leadership to “review and refine future commencement programming.”
Short video clips of his remarks have been circulating on social media, during which the professor called out “pro-Palestinian student activists who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
Peterson provided a YouTube link to a longer clip of his speech. During the 5½ minute video link he posted, Peterson began his remarks with the fight to allow women to become students at the University of Michigan.
He challenged the graduates, when they sing the school’s fight song “The Victors,” to remember those first women students, and the first Jewish professors and Jewish students on campus.
He continued:
“Sing for the students of the Black Action Movement, whose members demanded a curriculum that would reflect the experience and identity of black people in this country.
“Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activities who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The greatness of this institution does not only rest on the shoulders and on the accomplishments of our student athletes who deserve all the congratulations we can offer them.
“But the greatness of this university rests also on the courage and the conviction of student activists who have pushed this university down the path toward justice.
“It is to them that we can rightly sing ‘Hail! to the victors valiant. Hail! to the conquering heroes. Hail! to Michigan. The leaders and the best.”
Those publicly criticizing Peterson’s statements include two Republican-endorsed candidates for the Board of Regents election, Michael Schostak and Lena Epstein, who issued a joint statement saying, “Commencement ceremonies exist to unite the University community around academic achievement, personal growth, and the promise of what comes next. It should not become a stage for political activism that leaves students feeling excluded or uncomfortable during one of the most important milestones of their lives.”
“I am disgusted by this educational ‘leader’ who used his platform at spring commencement to attack Israel,” Schostak said while sharing the statement.
And Sarah Hubbard, a Republican who is currently serving as a U-M regent, said in a social media post, “While I wasn’t there yesterday to see it in person, what I have seen is incredibly troubling and disappointing. It is very difficult to execute meaningful consequences on tenured faculty but as a leader I can help set the tone and expectations for their conduct.”
Hubbard said she expects to discuss the circumstances both with the Board of Regents and the university administration.
“Make no mistake, we will not allow a 30-second soundbite to tear down the goodwill that so many on our campus have worked to build,” Grasso said. “Together, we have made Michigan a welcoming, safe and inclusive community – one that we can be proud of, reflects our values, and serves as a model for other institutions around the world. That work continues now and always.”
CBS News Detroit reached out to Peterson for comment, and he provided the following statement:
“I have respect for Regent Hubbard and her colleagues: theirs is not an easy job, and we here at Michigan benefit from their leadership.
“I would however urge Regent Hubbard to review the comments I actually made at yesterday’s commencement. It should not be controversial to have one’s “heart opened to the inhumanity and injustice of Israel’s war in Gaza”, which is what I credited activists with doing. Having an open heart to other people’s suffering is a fundamental human virtue. It is a quality that I hope we teach our students, whatever their political posture might be.
“So I am mystified about what I have done to earn Regent Hubbard’s ire. I have – like many of us here in Michigan – been convicted by the evidence of human suffering in Gaza; and I credit my awareness of that to pro-Palestinian activists. That is why I gave the speech that I did. On a day meant to honor students for their accomplishments, I thought it important that we would honor the student activists who have, over the course of time, pushed the institution toward justice.
“The University has taken down the commencement video. But here is my talk, if you’d like to hear the whole of it. As you will see, it is a talk about the salience of student activism in this institution’s long history.
“Allow me to add, if I may:
“The idea that graduations should be apolitical is ridiculous. Michigan is not a finishing school for polite young men and women. Our students are not wilting flowers. They have just finished their degrees at the foremost public university in the country. They can handle controversy.
“They do not need sentimental, cloying nostalgia. They need encouragement to face a flawed and unjust world head on, using the tools we’ve given them: critical reasoning, careful research, sympathy for the oppressed.
“That is why I spoke as I did. If parents want sentimental graduation ceremonies, perhaps they should send their kids to a different institution. Here at UM we teach our students to face controversies, not run away from them. That’s what being the leaders and the best is about.”
The keynote speaker for spring commencement was former basketball star Jalen A. Rose of Detroit. Three students were also chosen to represent their class as speakers.
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