Domenico Grasso, president of the University of Michigan, issued an apology on Saturday after a faculty leader praised pro-Palestinian student activists during a spring commencement speech.
Derek Peterson, a history and African studies professor and outgoing faculty senate chair, urged graduates to remember the thousands of students who “have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of social justice over the course of centuries.” One of the examples he listed was “the 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.”
The remarks drew applause from parts of the crowd and swift criticism from some university officials and Jewish groups.
Grasso stated that Peterson’s remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict “were hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community.”
“We regret the pain this has caused on a day devoted to celebration and accomplishment,” Grasso said. “For this, the university apologizes.”
Grasso added that Peterson “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony” and stated that the comments “do not represent our institutional position.” (JNS sought comment from Peterson.)
“The chair’s remarks were expected to be congratulatory, not a platform for personal or political expression,” Grasso said. “Introducing such commentary in this setting was inappropriate and did not align with the purpose of the occasion. In the coming weeks, I will work with university leadership to review and refine future commencement programming.”
Sarah Hubbard, a university regent, stated that Peterson’s “conduct was unbecoming for a leader of the greatest university in the world” and that “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.”
“As the board of the university, we have an opportunity to make lasting changes that will change the course of this conduct,” Hubbard wrote.
Leo Terrell, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and senior counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, stated, “If this professor is going to get political, why doesn’t he call out Islamic terrorists for mass murdering innocent civilians around the world, including Jews and Christian Nigerians? Why doesn’t he call out the terrorists who celebrated the return of Jewish babies in coffins?”
“Why doesn’t he call out the pro-Hamas agitators/students who celebrated the murder of innocent babies as ‘resistance’?” Terrell wrote. “If he is going to get political, why not thank Israel for doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties while going after the terrorists who vow to come after the United States next?”
