BLOOMINGTON — The protest over the conflict between Israel and Hamas continued to the IU Bloomington campus on Saturday during the 2024 commencement service.
As graduates filed into Memorial Stadium, a plane circled overhead. Trailing behind was a Palestinian flag and the words “let Gaza live.”
When University President Pamela Whitten stepped up to the podium, she was booed by the crowd.
Some graduates left their commencement ceremony, marching through campus in caps and gowns and chanting through bullhorns.
“There are no more universities in Gaza,” graduate Gabriella Bain said while marching. “This is a privilege that we have, right now, to even have a stadium to walk out of – and to have a graduation to leave.”
For weeks, pro-Palestinian protesters have been calling for the university to divest its investments in Israel and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane.
More than 50 arrests have occurred on the IU Bloomington campus during protests. The ACLU represents three arrested and has filed a lawsuit against the university and Whitten.
