NYU withholds degree from gay transgender student over commencement speech

New York University is facing mounting criticism after it withheld the diploma of Logan Rozos, a graduating senior, actor, and gay Black trans man, who used his commencement speech to condemn the war in Gaza and call out U.S. complicity in what he described as genocide.

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Rozos, 24, delivered the brief but pointed remarks at the Wednesday graduation ceremony for NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. “The genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months,” he said. “I condemn this genocide. End complicity in this genocide.” His comments were met with loud applause at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre.

Related: Trump signs executive order targeting transgender students, their teachers, and their schools

According to school officials, Rozos had submitted a different version of the speech to university officials in advance, which NYU now says violated protocol. In a statement posted to the school’s website, NYU spokesperson John Beckman said Rozos “lied about the speech he was going to deliver” and misused his platform “to express his personal and one-sided political views.” Beckman said NYU is pursuing disciplinary action and is withholding Rozos’ diploma indefinitely.

“NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him,” the university’s statement read.

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Rozos, who starred in David Makes Man and was named to GLAAD and Teen Vogue’s “20 Under 20” lists, has not commented publicly since the controversy erupted. Beckman did not immediately respond to The Advocate’s follow-up request for clarification on the status of Rozos’ degree or the disciplinary process.

The university’s action has sparked backlash from free speech advocates and student organizers.

Rozos’s case comes amid a nationwide escalation in campus censorship, driven in part by the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to clamp down on what it sees as anti-Israel, anti-government, or left-wing sentiment in academia. This week, the administration launched a Justice Department investigation into Harvard University under the False Claims Act. It also cut $450 million in federal research funding and opened at least eight other investigations targeting admissions and diversity programs.