Students walk out of Stanford commencement during Google CEO speech
Between 100 and 200 graduates left the ceremony while the Google CEO delivered the keynote. A venture capitalist criticized the action on social media.
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investopedia.comBetween 100 and 200 graduating students walked out of a university commencement ceremony Sunday while the Google CEO delivered the keynote address. The students carried Palestinian flags, blew whistles, and chanted "Free Palestine." Organizers said the action protested a $1.2 billion cloud and AI contract between Google, Amazon, and the Israeli government.
Protest details The walkout was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid. The groups stated that they did not need another tech executive to explain how to profit from contracts involving surveillance. The Google CEO continued speaking after the disruption and did not comment on the protest when asked by reporters afterward.
The speech focused on the executive's personal background and advice to graduates.
Venture capitalist response A venture capitalist who attended the same university posted criticism of the students on social media. The post described the action as biased, idiotic, short-sighted, and selfish, and stated that the students ignored potential benefits of AI for billions of people.
The post received both support and criticism online. The ceremony was attended by over 20,000 people, including nearly 3,600 graduating students.
