Overview
- Videos circulating online show a graduate carrying a Palestinian flag being stopped on stage at the Goldman School of Public Policy commencement until the flag was handed to someone in the audience and the diploma was given.
- UC Berkeley and GSPP leaders said students received written, content-neutral guidelines before the ceremony that explicitly prohibited signs, banners and flags and that officials enforced that policy.
- Dean David C. Wilson described the enforcement as consistent application of community standards and defended the action as necessary to keep the ceremony moving.
- Student groups and campus advocates criticized the move as suppressing political expression and said holding a degree over a flag amounted to public discipline of a graduate.
- Footage spread widely on social platforms and drew mixed on-site reactions from cheers and chants to boos, feeding broader campus debates over free expression, commencement decorum and how universities handle protests.