‘I Didn’t Want to Make a Scene’: A Professor Recounts the Conversation That Got Him Ejected From Commencement
Holbrook says his removal came after an encounter with the University of California system’s president, Michael V. Drake, in the robing room before faculty members formed a procession. The professor approached Drake, who was serving as the commencement speaker, about the system’s response to pro-Palestinian protesters. In Holbrook’s telling, Drake became visibly upset and raised his voice; shortly thereafter, police officers removed Holbrook from the procession line and asked him to leave the premises… The UC-Merced Faculty Association released a statement condemning what it called an “unwarranted, drastic step” and calling on the chancellor’s office and its Academic Senate to investigate. Both Holbrook and the faculty association said they were unsure how or by whom the decision to remove Holbrook was made.
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by Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education.