Columbia's Acting President Booed During Grad Speech

The acting president of Columbia University was booed as she took the stage at the New York university's graduation ceremony Tuesday. Students also chanted "Free Mahmoud" during Claire Shipman's speech, CBS News and NBC News report. "I know that many of you feel some amount of frustration with me and I know you feel it with the administration," she acknowledged as students continued to boo. "And I know that we have a strong, strong tradition of free speech at this university. And I am always open to feedback, which I am getting right now." Later, when chanting broke out, she simply paused without making reference to the chants when she resumed speaking.

The "Free Mahmoud" chants were a reference to Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate student and leader of pro-Palestinian protests on the campus who remains in custody in Louisiana after being detained by US immigration authorities in March. His name was met with cheers when it was read at the ceremony. Also among the new group of Columbia graduates is Mohsen Mahdawi, the legal US resident detained during a citizenship interview in mid-April but released after a judge's ruling later that month. He said he plans to continue his education at Columbia, pursuing a graduate degree. (More Columbia University stories.)