The University of Vermont has capitulated to a demand by the campus anti-Israel “encampment,” canceling a commencement address by UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a black female diplomatic pioneer.
The “encampment” is one of dozens across campuses in the U.S., demanding the destruction of Israel and making other antisemitic demands.
According to local NBC affiliate WPTZ:
Thomas-Greenfield is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. UVM student protesters had listed the cancellation of her commencement speech as one of their key demands. She has overseen three votes for a cease-fire to war efforts in the Middle East, and has vetoed the measure each time.
…
“Every time you see a headline of U.S. vetoes U.N. cease-fire resolution in the Security Council, it’s accompanied by a picture of her raising her hand for that veto that picture carries an immense amount of pain and trauma and suffering,” James, a student with the group Students for Justice in Palestine, said in an earlier interview with NBC5.
WPTZ interviewed a leader from the local chapter of “Students for Justice in Palestine” who expressed satisfaction that she would not be speaking and hoped that she would no longer receive an honorary degree. WPTZ allowed the masked student to remain off-camera.
The university appears to have conceded to the activists because of a fear of protests during commencement. It also agreed to disclose the university’s investments.
The State Department recently honored Linda Thomas-Greenfield as one of the “first” among black women in diplomacy. She was the first black female diplomat to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, and to achieve several other distinctions.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
