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At Morehouse College, students and faculty were divided over inviting President Joe Biden to receive an honorary degree and give a speech at the school's commencement ceremony. Morehouse valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher, who had a Palestinian flag affixed to his graduation cap, called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza during his speech, and assistant professor of sociology Taura Taylor stood with her fist raised, facing away from Biden as he addressed the crowd. "I wanted to take it upon myself to, one, stand up for my principles, and then also kind of stand in solidarity for my students as well as my other fellow faculty members who felt that we were caught in this moment where it seemed like we, as a community, selected Biden, when we all did not," says Taylor. We also speak with Samuel Livingston, an associate professor of Africana studies, who held a flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo behind Biden as he spoke. "We held up the flag because the people of the Congo do not get enough media attention in terms of the active genocide that the United States is supporting through its support of Rwanda," says Livingston. "Congo deserves justice, reparations from the United States for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, conspiring in that assassination, and the people today deserve a country that is built on peace and justice."
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 Elijah Nouvelage/GettyPresident Joe Biden's commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday went off mostly without a hitch, though a handful of students and faculty turned their backs on him as he spoke while some walked out altogether—a muted response for a modern president as pro-Palestinian sentiments continue to roil higher education.
Biden's speech at the historically Black men's college touched on many of his campaign's pillars, including his economic wins and his calls for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, while acknowledging policies that have boosted Black Americans. The speech was Biden's first direct interaction with college students after a month of protests across U.S. college campuses, including Columbia, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the University of Florida.
Biden was greeted with a standing ovation from multiple Morehouse alums as he took the stage, according to a video posted on social media, though students largely remained seated. About six students turned their backs towards Biden as he spoke, according to NBC News, in a continuation of various protests at commencements nationwide over the war.
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President Joe Biden will give a commencement speech at Morehouse, one of the country's preeminent historically Black colleges, as pro-Palestinian protests continue on campuses across the US. Follow here for live news updates.
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