Stanford students shout ‘Free Palestine,’ walk out in protest of Google CEO
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Hundreds of Stanford University students were seen leaving their graduation ceremony on Sunday in protest of their speaker, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Accordingly local reportsAs soon as Pichai took the stage, about 200 students left the hall before he even started speaking. During the march, some students were seen carrying Palestinian flags.
The protest was probably against Google Participation in “Nimbus Project” $1.2 billion joint cloud contract with Amazon linked to the Israeli government. The agreement was first announced in 2021 and has since sparked controversy from anti-Israel activists.
MASKED ANTI-ISRAEL STANFORD PROTESTERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAMPUS BUILDING TAKEOVER IN 2024
Stanford University has a history of anti-Israel protests in commencement speeches. (Tayfun Coşkun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Stanford University for comment.
Despite the protests, Pichai’s speech largely avoided political topics such as international wars or artificial intelligence. The pivot was in sharp contrast to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s commencement speech last month at the University of Arizona. Schmidt was booed When addressing AI.
In its place, Pichai focused On the importance of optimism.
“This may not seem right to you right now,” Pichai said during his speech. “The world is going through so much: global conflicts, economic concerns, technology restructuring, information overload, all at a rapid pace. It’s easy to look at the news of the day and think we’re living in uniquely challenging times.”
ISRAELI CHEMIST ACCUSES STANFORD OF CAREER SABOTAGE WITH BAD ALLEGATIONS AND UNIMPLEMENTED ALLEGATIONS: CASE
Stanford University graduates were seen carrying Palestinian flags as they left the graduation ceremony on Sunday. (Getty Images)
“For me, it’s good to remember that every generation faces its own challenges,” he continued. “We can’t choose the world we graduate from, but we can choose how we frame our circumstances.”
Pichai wasn’t the first commencement speaker that students protested at Stanford University. Graduates also walked out during the graduation speaker last year Katie Ledecky’s speech to protest the school’s alleged “complicity” in Israel’s war against Gaza.
THE MOST EXTREME ANTI-ISRAEL, HAMAS SYMPTOMS MOMENTS ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES SINCE OCTOBER. 7 ATTACKS
Anti-Israel protesters occupy the Stanford University president’s office in 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
in 2024 students also protested then-university president Richard Saller and organized their own “People’s Commencement” ceremony to “honor Palestine.”
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Stanford was one of several major universities that was the subject of controversy for what many saw as an inadequate response to anti-Israel protesters on campus. In 2024, more than a dozen agitators occupied the offices of Stanford University’s president and dean, damaging the building’s exterior.
