Biden’s planned commencement speech sparks concern at Morehouse College

By Michael Williams, Jade Gordon, Shawn Nottingham, Donald Judd and Ila Wilborn, CNN

Washington (CNN) — A commencement speech that President Joe Biden is expected to deliver at Morehouse College next month has sparked some concern among the school’s faculty amid heightened tensions on college campuses across the country over the US’ continued support for Israel in its war in Gaza.

The White House on Tuesday formally announced that Biden will deliver the May 19 commencement at Morehouse, but faculty at the school – one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black colleges – expressed concerns about Biden’s presence on campus after hearing rumors that he would deliver the commencement earlier this week, according to an email from Morehouse Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Kendrick Brown, which was obtained by CNN.

In the email, Brown writes that the concerns “prompted me to consult with elected faculty leaders” and those leaders “expressed clearly that providing such a forum for discussion would be valued by many faculty.”

The forum is scheduled for April 25, according to the email and will just be for faculty, though Brown notes “students also will engage” with college President David Thomas on the issue.

Brown concludes the email saying, “Please know going into this conversation that the College does not plan to rescind its accepted invitation to President Biden.”

Biden’s visit to the Georgia college comes as he seeks to convince young voters to send him to the White House for another term, even as many have expressed frustration for Biden’s continued support of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Those frustrations have boiled over at college campuses across the country in recent days, where students have protested to demand that their universities divest from Israel.

Biden has been confronted by some of those protests during his own speeches and campaign events. An Biden speech centering on abortion rights at George Mason University in Virginia earlier this year was plagued by more than a dozen protests over his administration’s support of Israel.

Since that January event, Biden’s campaign has opted away from events on college campuses, choosing more intimate settings where campaign staffers could be more selective about who ends up in the audience. The campaign has been easing Biden back onto campuses; he spoke again about abortion rights on Tuesday at a community college in Tampa, Florida.

“The president looks forward to speaking to graduates on their special day and thanking their parents, friends and loved ones for all of their support,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters traveling with Biden to Florida Tuesday.

Biden is also expected to deliver a commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 25.

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