This Ivey grad wanted ‘nice peaceful graduation day.’ It was anything but

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For many university students, graduation is a moment years in the making, to celebrate the work they’ve put into getting their degree.

For graduates from the Ivey business school at Western University, their special day was rearranged by hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who forced a change to the schedule and confronted students and their families.

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“How the day unfolded is not at all how it was planned out to be,” said one Ivey graduate, who asked to remain anonymous citing safety concerns.

After not having a traditional high school graduation in 2020 due to the pandemic, he was looking forward to having a normal ceremony on June 20 to celebrate his achievements, he said.

“I just wanted a nice peaceful graduation day, you know, with my family.”

Despite the ongoing pro-Palestinian protest on Western’s campus that began May 8, the Ivey grad said he wasn’t expecting the protest to flare up outside of his graduation because he had attended a relative’s convocation the week earlier where there were no major disruptions.

Western convocations typically take place in Western’s Alumni Hall with additional ceremonies sometimes being held by faculties in their respective buildings.

Ivey graduates expected to go from their convocation at Alumni Hall to a secondary ceremony in the Ivey building on the western side of Western Road.

Graduates were told to stay put because their traditional “ring ceremony” would instead also be held at Alumni Hall, the graduate said.

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He said the reason for the change in plans was that a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters had gathered outside of Alumni Hall during the convocation ceremony, waving signs and chanting with a megaphone. The protesters eventually moved from Alumni Hall to the business school building, where the crowd grew to approximately 200 protesters.

Students who needed to pick up pictures, yearbooks and other graduation mementos and take photos still needed to go into the Ivey building, which meant they had to cross in close proximity to the protesters, the graduate said.

Pictures show Ivey graduates and their families entering the Ivey building while the protesters, some with their faces covered, held up signs and waved flags.

“There was tons of screaming and chanting from the protesters. And they were very much in our face. Some of them were recording us, some of them were giving us the finger,” the graduate said.

“It was really scary,” he said, adding that he can’t speak for everyone.

Protesters and graduates also could also be seen making peace signs at each other, with some graduates and members of their families showing support to the protesters.

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The graduate said he is “mourning” the loss of this momentous occasion, and is confused about why it needed to happen.

“I don’t really know what as a recent Western graduate, what could I have done in that moment to make those protesters happy?

“I think regardless of what program you’re in at Western, you just wanna have that final moment to say goodbye to your friends and say goodbye to the spaces that you’ve been in for years,” he said.

“It’s not something that, you know, you’re just gonna get back.”

Protesters have stated Western invests in military contractors that supply Israel and other companies tied to Israel, and they want those investments ended. The group has said it targeted the Ivey building because the business school has an exchange program with Israel.

Pro-Palestinian encampments at Western and other universities in Canada and the United States were set up in response to Israel’s months-long military offensive in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which was prompted by an Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israelis.

Western said in statement Thursday it is “exploring all options” to bring an end to the protest it says violates the school’s policies and is making students, staff and visitors feel “unsafe and unwelcome.”

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