President Joe Biden will address the graduates of Morehouse College on Sunday, May 19th per a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The appearance will mark the president’s third HBCU commencement address since he’s been in office, as he spoke at South Carolina State’s Fall 2021 commencement and Howard University’s Spring 2023 commencement.
Morehouse is no stranger to a sitting president speaking at their commencement ceremony. President Barack Obama spoke at the institution’s 2013 commencement address, marking him as the first sitting president to speak at Morehouse’s commencement. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also visited Morehouse in the Fall of 2022 in promotion of voting rights legislation. Vice President Harris also visited the institution last Fall on her “Fight For Our Freedoms” college tour. She visited Morehouse College on September 15th.
Per NBC News, Morehouse extended the invitation for President Biden to speak at their commencement in September. NBC News also reports faculty concern over President Biden’s commencement speech invite due to displeasure with his administration’s handling of Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Morehouse College Provost and senior vice president for academic affairs Kendrick Brown wrote a letter to faculty obtained by NBC News on Friday. He said that a virtual meeting would be held to allow facility members to ask questions and make comments about the selection of President Biden as the commencement speaker. Per Brown, Morehouse has no plans to rescind the invitation for the president to speak at the commencement.
Morehouse students, as well as other students in the Atlanta University Center, have made their voices heard about the Israel-Hamas conflict and the United State’s response. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in February, over 1,100 individuals, including students from Morehouse, signed an online petition calling on the Atlanta University Center Consortium to publicly show support for the Palestinian people. Morehouse’s school newspaper “The Maroon Tiger” reported that junior Psychology major Amir Childs was detained by campus police after taking down an Israeli flag.
The Maroon Tiger obtained comment from the student about his motives behind the act
“I’m hearing all these brothers talking about the importance of peace and what it means to our society and I turn around and see a flag of a country that’s bombing children and we’re supporting it…Murder is wrong, genocide is wrong, call it out anytime you see it. I have nothing against Jewish people,” Childs said. “I have nothing against the people of the Nation of Israel, but I have everything against their government.”
Morehouse College Commencement will take place on Sunday, May 19th at 10 AM EST. The commencement address will be streamed
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