Rutgers Faculty Split Over Disinvited Commencement Speaker

"The Rutgers University Senate formally censured School of Engineering dean Alberto Cuitiño on Tuesday, 12 days after he rescinded the invitation for Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour to speak at the school's upcoming commencement ceremony. The Senate's resolution criticized Cuitiño's handling of the situation as "one-sided, opaque, and harmful" to the university. Theirs is one aspect of a debate over whether Cuitiño was right to rescind the invitation and whether Elghandour-whose online critiques of Israel have recently come under fire-should have been invited to speak in the first place."

"Cuitiño revoked Elghandour's invitation to speak at commencement-scheduled for this coming Friday, May 15-on April 30. The dean told Elghandour that some students "no longer felt comfortable attending the convocation ceremony with him as the speaker" but did not elaborate on those concerns, according to the Senate resolution. A university spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed on May 6 that Elghandour was disinvited due to concerns about "social media posts, including one that shared an inflammatory claim," and linked to an April 20 X post from Elghandour in which he wrote about Israel."

"In the April 20 X post, Elghandour wrote about Israel, "They've committed genocide. They're running dungeons where they train dogs to sexually assault prisoners ... Weapons embargo is the absolute minimum. Sanctions and diplomatic isolation are beyond justified." A few weeks after Elghandour's post, The New York Times ran an op-ed by journalist Nicholas Kristof that included firsthand accounts of Palestinian former prisoners who were raped by dogs at the summon of prison guards."

"The ongoing fight is complete with all the trappings of a campus divided over free speech-petitions, student rallies, faculty meetings, backchannel discussions and administrators' attempts to quash it all. It also adds Rutgers to a list of at least four institutions that have disinvited commencement speakers this spring."

Rutgers University Senate censured School of Engineering dean Alberto Cuitiño for revoking an invitation for Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour to speak at an upcoming commencement ceremony. The censure followed the rescission by 12 days and criticized the dean’s handling as one-sided, opaque, and harmful to the university. The dispute centered on whether the dean was justified in canceling the invitation and whether Elghandour should have been invited given online criticism of Israel. The dean revoked the invitation on April 30, citing student discomfort without detailing concerns. A university spokesperson said the decision was based on social media posts, including an inflammatory claim tied to an April 20 X post about Israel and alleged actions in detention. The controversy occurred amid campus petitions, rallies, faculty meetings, and administrative efforts to manage the conflict.

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