When a California UC, Berkeley graduate put his own flair on his graduation walk, it didn’t end well. Taking a personal flag on his graduation walk proved problematic for the Dean, who stopped the student and scolded him for his choice.
Alexis (@alexiszaragoza47) shared a TikTok video of what happened after a graduate walked the stage at the University of California, Berkeley, to receive his diploma. On his way to the Dean, he waved a Palestinian flag to show support to show support for Palestinians. According to the TikTok creator, students were not permitted to display personal flags during the ceremony.”Alexis started recording as the Master student made his way to the Dean.
As soon as the student reached the college Dean, he rolled up his flag and put it behind him to receive his diploma. At first, Alexis said the Dean was holding out his diploma for him to receive. However, when the student approached, he pulled the diploma back. The audience immediately erupted in loud “Boo”s! For the next minute and a half, Alexis recorded the Dean stopping the student to address the flag. The interaction continued for over a minute before he was allowed to proceed across the stage.
As they’re telling him the rules of graduation, audience members are shouting, “Let him walk!” Eventually, they relent, and he makes his way across the stage, and they tell him to put his flag away. He bunches it up and hands it to an audience member before they allow him to receive his diploma. Many audience members cheered as the student crossed the stage. Alexis stated, “This could have been fixed by simply asking him to put it away, which he had already done. Instead, this was an attempt at a public shaming.”
Commenters immediately flocked to Alexis’ video, with many showing support for the student and disdain for the school’s actions. One commenter stated, “Give that young man his diploma.” Another commenter shared, “Tbh the crowd was amazing.”
Another commenter pointed out a possible other side to this. They stated, “This is awful AND Berkeley is a public institution that relies heavily on federal funding. I also work in public education and the scrutiny public education entities are under because of the current administration, attached to federal funding, is the most intense I’ve ever experienced. I wonder if this had anything to do with that.” Commenters continue to speculate on the matter and offer support for students during graduation.
At the time of this writing, the university has not publicly commented on the interaction shown in the video.
