Northern Virginia VCU student denied diploma after participating in pro-Palestinian protests
Source: WTOP
Northern Virginia VCU student denied diploma after participating in pro-Palestinian protests
Dan Ronan | dan.ronan@wtop.com
July 26, 2025, 8:48 AM
Two months after earning a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, a 20-year-old Northern Virginia woman is having her diploma withheld for partaking in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. ... Sereen Haddad is accused of violating the school’s code of conduct by participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and school officials tell WTOP the diploma is on hold until it investigates her alleged conduct.
The Haddad family has deep ties to Gaza and her father, cardiologist Dr. Tariq Haddad, said at least 200 extended family members and friends have died during the Israeli-Hamas war.
Haddad finished her classwork at VCU in three years and would’ve earned a degree in psychology. She intends to pursue a master’s degree in psychology and eventually a PhD. ... “She did all the requirements in three years rather than four with a 4.0, summa cum laude,” Tariq said. “She wants to obtain a degree, a PhD in psychology, because over 50% of the children in Gaza suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood depression because of all these attacks over the past few years.”
He said his daughter’s goal is to use her PhD to help children with war-related mental illness. ... The dispute is also holding up her applications to graduate school, because she does not officially have a bachelor’s degree. ... After participating in and organizing several peaceful campus protests, Sereen was notified by the university this spring that she could attend the graduation ceremony but would not receive her diploma.
{snip}
Dan Ronan
Weekend anchor Dan Ronan is an award-winning journalist with a specialty in business and finance reporting.
dan.ronan@wtop.com
Read more: https://wtop.com/virginia/2025/07/northern-virginia-vcu-student-denied-diploma-after-pro-palestinian-protests/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Lovie777
(19,472 posts)calling President Biden "genocide Joe" paid off - ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
hell no.
Yes, I'm still pissed off.
madashelltoo
(1,811 posts)The rules always seem to apply for some and not for others. The rules are simply ignored for the chosen (Alina Habba).
cstanleytech
(27,808 posts)
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Unfortunately for her, she participated in an illegal encampment, which is not protected speech.
angryxyouth
(279 posts)Corporations are people and Money is free speech. If that argument can be made about free speech a good Lawyer could argue that an encampment is a way to express yourself make a point and therefore free speech. IMHO
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Citizens United stands for the proposition that you are protected by the 1st Amendment to spend all the money you have on speech (ads, books, rallies -- with the proper permits, PACs, etc.). Of course, that means the rich have a megaphone while the poor whisper. But that has no bearing on illegal encampments on school property. It would be one thing if she had contracted with the school and paid the school to let them have that encampment, but that never happened. The school did not offer up its grounds for rent for encampments, then choose to deny the pro-Palestinian students a rental because they wanted to use it for pro-Palestinian speech. All schools make it illegal to camp on school property, no matter your views. Illegal conduct is not speech.
Per the ACLU:
Free speech laws generally protect speech, not conduct. There is no First Amendment right, for example, to spray graffiti on a public building or to destroy someone else’s property, even if the act is done to communicate a message. Nor do free speech protections readily shield encampments or protests that substantially disrupt classes or other events like graduation ceremonies and Board of Regents meetings.
https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-free-speech-colleges-and-universities#item-4341
angryxyouth
(279 posts)Gingermolly
(20 posts)This young woman paid all the required tuition and fees, apparently was an exemplary student, and did not lose her first amendment rights by walking onto the campus. The ACLU or some other strong organization needs to get involved immediately.
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Free speech laws generally protect speech, not conduct. There is no First Amendment right, for example, to spray graffiti on a public building or to destroy someone else’s property, even if the act is done to communicate a message. Nor do free speech protections readily shield encampments or protests that substantially disrupt classes or other events like graduation ceremonies and Board of Regents meetings.
https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-free-speech-colleges-and-universities#item-4341
Unfortunately for her, she participated in an illegal encampment, which is not protected speech.
Oopsie Daisy
(6,261 posts)twodogsbarking
(14,648 posts)
Jose Garcia
(3,260 posts)twodogsbarking
(14,648 posts)If they don't die they will grow up hating their oppressors and their live will be filled with hate. Have a good day. I'm just sad about it.
lees1975
(6,717 posts)Shameful.
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Unfortunately for her, she participated in an illegal encampment, which is not protected speech.
“Several students involved in the protests were seniors set to graduate on May 10. Per Student Affairs’ standard procedures, initially approved in 2013, when seniors and graduate students are involved in a possible or alleged conduct violation, they receive a letter giving them advance notice of the potential ramifications if they are found responsible,” the statement read.
The statement also addressed the hold on Sereen’s diploma, adding that until the “student conduct process has been fully resolved,” some students will not receive their diplomas.
As this CNS video shows (CBS requires you to follow the link to watch it on YouTube), the students erected tents and barricades after VCU said that they have freedom of speech, but encampments on school property would not be allowed. Police had to move in to remove the encampment after students refused to take down the encampment.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)...from the same link:
“Several students involved in the protests were seniors set to graduate on May 10. Per Student Affairs’ standard procedures, initially approved in 2013, when seniors and graduate students are involved in a possible or alleged conduct violation, they receive a letter giving them advance notice of the potential ramifications if they are found responsible,” the statement read.In a statement to WTOP, VCU said students who held an unauthorized event on the campus were warned to disband but refused to leave the campus library’s lawn.
This doesn't mean I think she shouldn't get her degree - she should. But as is often the case, there is more to the story. She and others refused to disperse, and under a long-standing policy, their conduct is being looked at.
hunter
(39,720 posts)I'll bet they've given diplomas to actual criminals -- rapists, car thieves, drug dealers, etc...
Most schools are pretty good at covering this shit up, especially if these sociopathic students come from very wealthy families.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)But as this relates to conduct while a student, all of those things would has to have happened while they were students.
I’m simply pointing out that this wasn’t just an issue of holding her up because she protested for Palestinians, and also that this isn’t some new rule that only applies to pro-Palestinian protesters.
hunter
(39,720 posts)As "Associate Director, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity" I am 100% certain that Kristie Filipchuk knows of students in this graduating class who have committed worse offenses, both criminal and academic, who still received diplomas.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)If you say that you know for certain that this is selective enforcement, then I hope that you've made that known to the school and to the family.
bluestarone
(20,000 posts)Would have gotten their diploma! Just Saying.
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Unfortunately for her, she participated in an illegal encampment, which is not protected speech.
Jose Garcia
(3,260 posts)
iemanja
(56,361 posts)The horror!
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Jewish students feared going near the encampment due to harassment.
As this CBS video shows (CBS requires you to follow the link to watch it on YouTube), the students erected tents and barricades, after VCU said encampments on school property would not be allowed. Police had to move in to remove the encampment after students refused to take down the encampment.
And yes, it was horrifying for Jewish students and faculty, as noted starting at 1:07 of the above video.
iemanja
(56,361 posts)?
How many civil rights protestors would you have seen stripped of their degrees? Civil disobedience is part of democracy, clearly a part that you oppose. Since the Boston Tea Party, it’s been a mainstay of protest, like sit ins.
There is no suggestion that she intimidated Jewish students. I would not be surprised if Jewish students participated in those demonstrations. A Princeton prof said Jews were the second largest ethnic group participating in the protests there. I expect like everyone else with a conscience, they are horrified at the situation in Gaza.
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)1960s civil rights protesters didn't scream at Jewish students, calling them "Zionists." Nor did civil rights protesters invoke the call for the elimination of Israel with the Hamas chant, "[Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine shall be free." They were peaceful, and sought equality.
Expecting students to abide by the same rules all other students abide by is not "authoritarianism." It is equality.
The rule of law is already on life support, we shouldn't pull the plug.
Columbia University's antisemitism task force found that 66% of Jewish students reported the encampment affected their daily routine “a great deal or somewhat,” and 70% of Jewish students strongly or mostly opposed the encampment. The task force also found that over half of Jewish students have experienced religious discrimination, compared with 10% of the student body at large. Jewish students did not comprise a large proportion of the Gaza protesters.
These encampments made Jewish students feel unwelcome on college campuses. Setting up access-blocking illegal encampments on college property did not and will not help feed starving kids, nor help end the war in Gaza. College encampments are a stupid and illegal thing to do.
iemanja
(56,361 posts)1) you’ve provided no evidence that this student engaged in insults against Jewish students. You’ve only expressed your views about Gaza protests in general, not this student’s actions.
2) you’ve made it very clear that you support the denial of her degree. That only happened because of Trump’s threats against universities.
3) encampments are no different from sit ins and less destructive than the Boston Tea Party and many union actions through US history. Have you heard of Haymarket?
4) The only reason you take the position you have is because you object to Americans speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. What you object to is not even civil disobedience; it’s speech.
5) protest is central to democracy. That you think it pointless says something about your attitude toward social change.
SunSeeker
(56,248 posts)Your 5 made up points are just putting words in my mouth that I did not say, nor that I implied. How about addressing my points instead of inventing a strawman to argue with?
Encampments have been very destructive. The one at my alma mater, UCLA, cause millions in damage, including to the irreplaceable sandstone walls of historic Royce Hall. And for what? To scrawl the hate filled "From the river to the sea" epithet all over them. How does that help anyone? That is not the equivalent of throwing tea overboard in Boston. UCLA is not an evil king unfairly taxing its subjects. It's a school trying to teach students. Interfering with a king's unfair tax on tea makes sense. Destroying school property does not.
I'm not saying she shouldn't get her degree. She should, if she met all the VCU requirements for one. Presumably that is what they are investigating.
If you break the law, you have to be prepared for the consequences. We are supposed to have rule of law in this country. Authoritarianism means just the opposite. It means rule of one man, rather than rule of law.
iemanja
(56,361 posts)SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)The school following their process when someone has an alleged conduct violation?
iemanja
(56,361 posts)authoritarian process. No university has done this before Trump started his war on higher ed. It’s important to know whose side one stands on, and this is anti-free speech, anti-democratic and fascist, and pro-Trump.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…since before Trump even ran for President the first time.
Civil disobedience doesn’t mean no consequences. Even then ACLU recognizes that building encampments in places where they’re prohibited is not free speech.
iemanja
(56,361 posts)Assuming you are consistent in your views, you must be terribly upset that civil rights and Vietnam war protestors didn’t have their degrees stripped from them. I mean, this couldn’t have anything to do with the fact this student protested genocide in Gaza, could it?
Civil disobedience was part of those and other social movements in our nation’s history, dating back as early as the Boston Tea Party. It is part and parcel of social change.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…not read what I wrote earlier - I’m not in favor of stripping her degree, but I have no issue with the university (or any university) following the polices and processes they have in place for alleged misconduct, so long as it’s applied for all instances of alleged misconduct.
If there had been an encampment of white supremacists who refused to disperse after being told to do so, would you be in favor of withholding their degrees while the investigation moved forward? I would.
iemanja
(56,361 posts)Because I support the First Amendment. It doesn’t exist to support only the speech I happen to agree with.
If the university has such a policy, it should be in writing and given to students before their first semester.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…are not considered free speech, so not under the First Amendment.
I agree student should be told in writing about the consequences of alleged misconduct; I don’t know if they were or weren't in this case.
But even if they weren’t, once they were told to disperse, that should have the clue that what they were doing was against campus policy.
It takes all of thirty seconds to look up what the ACLU says about campus encampments not being free speech; these are not dumb people, and one would think they might make an attempt to understand their rights before building an encampment.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)civil disobedience doesn’t mean no consequences, it never has.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia…in June 2024.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/06/01/college-degrees-withheld-after-israel-gaza-protests/73899493007/
iemanja
(56,361 posts)You’ve only demonstrated that it is in fact there nature of the speech that has led to persecution of students.
Additionally, the university in this case continued to accept tuition payments after the protest for which the student later had her degree stripped. There is something highly problematic about taking money from a student knowing they had no intention of granting her the degree she earned.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)and whether or not degrees were withheld. I was responding to your claim that no university had ever done this (wrong) and that it was only happening because of Trump (also wrong, since Trumpnwasnt President in June of 2024).
iemanja
(56,361 posts)But that you can’t point to earlier examples shows that it is related to speech about Gaza in particular, not civil disobedience.
Depending on one’s age, we all learned about civil rights in college. I was a TA for US history through my graduate education. I learned about many different protest movements that involved civil disobedience, but none that resulted in the stripping of degrees.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…is that I haven’t looked at college misconduct policies from the 60s and 70s.
You’re the once claiming viewpoint discrimination in misconduct policies, so why don’t you go find examples to prove your point?
everyonematters
(3,881 posts)She enrolls in another college and has her transcripts transferred, and that college graduates her.
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…that she’ll be getting her diploma.
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(16,141 posts)you know, exposure to other ideas, culture, beliefs. What bearing could her participation bring to earning a degree? This is Trumpism...
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…and refusing to disperse is not what going to college is about.
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(16,141 posts)eom
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,219 posts)…and refused to disperse when told to do so - that’s what resulted in her degree being held up while the charge of misconduct was investigated.