Morehouse Community Divided Over Biden’s Commencement Speech Amidst Growing Protests

President Joe Biden is reportedly scheduled to give the commencement speech at Morehouse College next month. One Morehouse faculty member who spoke anonymously with FOX 5 Atlanta confirmed that the nation's 46th President is set to be the keynote speaker at the 2024 commencement; however, there have been concerns from faculty and alumni circulating the campus.

A commencement speech at one of the nation’s most prominent HBCUs (very notably Martin Luther King Jr. ’s alma mater) is a key strategic move in an election year where Biden again faces former President Donald Trump. Commencement is typically an occasion where Presidents can reach out to young voters, aiming to inspire a large group of young people right on the precipice of the rest of their lives.

For Biden, rallying young Black voters is crucial: if he does not garner the support from the Black community that he had in the 2020 election, his chances of losing battleground states to Trump significantly increase. Many polls show that young voters of color are less enthusiastic about Biden’s candidacy than they were in 2020.

While Biden is trying to retain the diverse voter base that elected him to office, some in the Morehouse community oppose the current president’s commencement speech because of his verbal, financial and military support for Israel in the relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip after the infamous October 7 attacks.

Another anonymous faculty member who spoke to NBC News said the Morehouse administration is concerned that students and faculty will protest during Biden’s speech, scheduled for May 19.

“This week, I received an inquiry from concerned faculty about rumors they were hearing about President Biden’s selection as the 2024 Commencement speaker,” Kendrick Brown, Morehouse’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote in an email sent Friday to faculty members.

Brown also told NBC that he has organized a virtual meeting scheduled this Thursday for the Morehouse community to express their concerns and to ask any clarifying questions they may have for Morehouse President David Thomas about his choice. Neither Brown nor Thomas responded to news outlets who asked for comments about this controversy.

With a significant increase in protests on college campuses against Biden’s stance and actions supporting Israel, this is a valid concern. Almost 750 miles away on the Columbia University campus, pro-Palestine student protesters have been met with expulsions and NYPD arrests, along with being doxxed on social media.

Columbia is not the only university grappling with student protests, and, to be clear, students have the right to protest as declared by the First Amendment. Commencement ceremonies are a momentous occasion that all college students have worked tirelessly to celebrate, but the entire point of protesting is to disrupt the status quo. Morehouse students have earned the right to celebrate graduation and express their views on injustice.