American scientist Freeman Hrabowski said he was the “only Black kid” during his PhD studies at Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the early 1970s. He added, “There was never a faculty member of colour and only one woman. From that initial instalment, the scheme has boosted the numbers of Black science students in the US. King posed this question to the group.”
US President Joe Biden is set to speak at the Morehouse College graduation in Atlanta, Georgia. This comes after students at Atlanta University Center protested against Biden’s stance on Israel’s actions in Gaza and asked for Biden to not be invited to the event. The Atlanta HBCU alumni association had petitioned the administration not to invite Biden to their event.
Students staged a silent walkout during Virginia Commonwealth University’s graduation ceremony to protest US President Joe Biden’s remarks on student protests. Earlier in the day, Biden had criticised the students, saying that some of them used “violent” methods. During his address, Biden had also said that he’s not against “patriotic” protesters but that they should “find a new way of doing it”.
Students at Brown University on April 30 set up an encampment on campus for six days to show support for Palestinians and demand that the school cut its financial ties toIsraeli companies they say are complicit in the ongoing war in Gaza. They also called for the school to divest from weapons manufacturers and companies tied to the Israeli military.
At least 144 Vanderbilt University professors have signed a letter, expressing support for student protesters and criticising its “excessive and punitive” response. Students were protesting at a campus-designated assembly area since 1969 and the site of a camp out the school administration banned in a last-minute change. Hundreds of students have been arrested at campus protests within the last week.