United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will deliver the undergraduate commencement address at Xavier University's graduation ceremony on Saturday, a decision that has sparked criticism among students who oppose the U.S.'s past positions on the war in Gaza.
Xavier announced this week that Thomas-Greenfield would speak to the its College of Arts and Sciences graduates, calling the Baker native and LSU alumna a "trailblazing Black woman who forged her own path."
But soon after the Sunday announcement, students drafted a letter to administrators urging them to cancel her speech, and created an online petition calling for the same. They have also asked university officials to review how commencement speakers are chosen in the future.
"It has come to our attention that the university has chosen to invite a U.N. ambassador who has voted against a ceasefire in Gaza to address our graduating class," wrote Chase Patterson, Xavier's student government association president. "This decision sparked significant dismay and disappointment among us, as it contradicts the values and principles that our institution upholds. ... As members of a compassionate and empathetic community, we cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow human beings."
Before presenting a March resolution to the U.N.'s Security Council that called for an "immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza," the U.S. vetoed three other ceasefire resolutions proposed by other countries. In explaining one veto, Thomas Greenfield said that the U.S. could not support ceasefire resolutions that do not mention Israel's right to self-defense; in explaining another, she said the U.S. could not support a ceasefire until Hamas freed hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Since October, tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza.
Xavier administrators did not respond to questions this week about whether they would rescind Thomas-Greenfield's invitation. Neither did Thomas-Greenfield provide a comment Tuesday.
Thomas-Greenfield has served as U.N. ambassador under President Joe Biden since her confirmation in 2021. She also serves as the U.S. representative on U.N.'s Security Council.
She has spent more than three decades working as a public servant for the U.S. Foreign Service where she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia and held multiple postings in Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica.
Thomas-Greenfield was recently invited, and then disinvited, from another university amid backlash. She was set to deliver the commencement address at University of Vermont but officials canceled her speech at the request of pro-Palestinian student protesters, who also cited the vetoed ceasefire resolutions, according to the Burlington Free Press.
Though Xavier's students have not staged the sorts of anti-war protests that have forced class cancellations at other universities nationwide, students and alumni decried Thomas-Greenfield's invitation this week.
Xavier Muslim Student Association President Zaynab Al-Rashed, who will graduate on Saturday, created the Change.org petition calling on university administrators to find a new commencement speaker and support calls for a ceasefire. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 1,600 people had signed it.
Al-Rashed said she met with administrators Monday and was told that the university began the search for a commencement speaker in September before war broke out in Gaza. Though the university announced that Thomas-Greenfield would speak only days ago, it's likely that it was finalized weeks prior, Al-Rashed said.
She said she was told that the decision to keep or cancel the speech lies with Xavier President Reynold Verret, who could not meet with students on Monday because he was out of the country on university business. He is expected to return Wednesday, Al-Rashed said.
"We would definitely hope that the U.N. ambassador herself or the administration reconsider the choice of her speaking at our commencement," said Al-Rashed, a senior majoring in biology who plans to attend medical school. "We really want this to be a celebratory conclusion to our time at Xavier, and there is concern that having this individual speak takes away from that."
As of Tuesday, Thomas-Greenfield was still set to speak on Saturday in a 1 p.m. ceremony at the Xavier Convocation Center on Stroelitz Street in Gert Town.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
