Stanford students walk out of graduation, sparking demonstration
Stanford students walk out of graduation, sparking demonstration
Stanford University students walked out of the school’s graduation ceremony Sunday, sparking a demonstration on the Palo Alto campus.
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Stanford University students walked out of the school’s graduation ceremony Sunday, sparking a demonstration on the Palo Alto campus.
Protest over Google
What we know:
The protest kicked off at Stanford University Stadium during a commencement address by Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Videos circulating on social media showed some graduates booing and walking out of the ceremony as Pichai began speaking, citing concerns over Google’s ties to Israel’s government.
Stanford students have been highly active on the issue.
The campus has seen more than a year of protests, with students calling for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel’s war on Hamas, which has left more than 73,000 people dead. During previous demonstrations, 13 people were arrested following a sit-in at the university’s administrative offices.
Stanford University has been reached out to for comment, but officials have not yet responded.
The protest kicked off at Stanford University Stadium during a commencement address by Google CEO Sundar Pichai. June 14, 2026
Big picture view:
The demonstration comes amid a broader trend of commencement speakers facing harsh criticism from graduating students across the country this year.
Just last month, University of Central Florida graduates—many of them arts and humanities majors—booed commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield, the vice president of strategic alliances for Tavistock Development Company, after she praised the rise of AI.
Graduates are currently facing several tough realities, including entering an economy where finding a job is difficult and many entry-level positions are disappearing.
The Source: Videos from graduation