Rutgers University canceled a convocation address from alumnus and businessman Rami Elghandour because of an “inflammatory” claim he made about the Israeli military earlier this year, a decision that Elghandour says abandons the university’s ideals.
Elghandour, the chairman and CEO of biotech company Arcellx, had been set to deliver an address at the Rutgers School of Engineering’s convocation later this month. But after some students apparently informed Rutgers they wouldn’t attend the ceremony because of his presence, Dean Alberto Cuitiño disinvited Elghandour.
Backers of Elghandour say the decision to disinvite him is viewpoint discrimination against his support for Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war. Elghandour, a vocal online supporter of Palestinians and critic of the Israeli military, was one of dozens of executive producers on The Voice of Hind Rajab, an Oscar-nominated film about the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab and the aid workers who attempted to save her. Elghandour said Rutgers’ announcement of his speech — which has since been deleted — put his work on The Voice of Hind Rajab front and center.
But Rutgers said that further review of his social media activity showed statements that went too far.
In a statement to the New Jersey Globe, Rutgers specifically cited an April post on the social media platform X in which Elghandour said Israel was committing genocide and “running dungeons where they train dogs to sexually assault prisoners.” The allegation appears to originate from an article that features Palestinian detainees discussing abuse in Israeli prisons, including some who claimed prison guards used dogs to sexually assault them; others have dismissed the claim as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
“The Rutgers School of Engineering was recently informed that some graduating students would not attend their graduation ceremony due to concerns about the invited speaker’s social media posts, including one that shared an inflammatory claim,” Rutgers spokesperson Dory Devlin told the New Jersey Globe. “After discussing these concerns with the speaker, the School of Engineering has rescinded the convocation speaker invitation to Rami Elghandour.”
In a statement, Elghandour criticized the decision, arguing Rutgers officials wavered under pressure.
“Rutgers chose me in part because of my humanitarian work,” he said. “They put my role as an executive producer for the Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab front and center. They led with my social justice advocacy. Until it was inconvenient. That’s the difference between virtue signaling and principles. One withstands challenge. The other wilts in the slightest breeze.”
Elghandour said he will record and share his planned address.
“Ironically the essence of my convocation speech is being yourself and choosing kindness,” he said. “That you can build a life consistent with your values. That you don’t have to choose between success and principles. Rutgers’ leadership clearly does not believe in these values.”
An account of a meeting between Dean Cuitiño and Rutgers University Senate Chair Lucille Foster is making the rounds among some faculty members and was shared with the New Jersey Globe. According to the description of the meeting, Cuitiño said Rutgers-New Brunswick Chancellor Francine Conway and Rutgers University President William F. Tate IV were not involved in the decision; rather, it was a school-based decision led by the dean.
The dean, according to the account, held two “extensive” conversations with Elghandour, during which Cuitiño became worried that Elghandour was “more concerned with his visibility as a speaker” than with the student experience. In an interview with The Guardian, Elghandour said the dean declined to specify why and how many students had protested.
According to the account of the dean’s meeting, Cuitiño also became worried that Elghandour might create controversy with an improvised speech. The dean reportedly decided that, in an effort to maintain a celebratory environment, he would cancel Elghandour’s speech.
In a later statement to the New Jersey Globe, Elghandour said Rutgers officials never specified what specific social media posts had caused the consternation, and he argued several human rights groups had found abuse, including sexual abuse, of prisoners.
“The first time I learned of any specific social media posts that caused Rutgers to cancel my speech was through the press informing me,” he said. “The school never brought specific concerns to my attention or gave me the opportunity to have an honest dialogue with them. It is shameful that Rutgers is trying to silence the truth of the Israeli military’s well-documented torture, sexual violence, and daily human rights violations against Palestinians.”
Cuitiño did not immediately return a request for comment.
Elghandour and Cuitiño had met before. In March, the dean hosted a “fireside chat” with Elghandour, during which the topic of Palestine reportedly came up.
Hank Kalet, a lecturer at Rutgers and the vice president of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, said that even if his comments were inflammatory, sensitive topics shouldn’t be avoided in a university setting. Kalet, who is Jewish, said he does not consider Elghandour to be anti-Semitic. (Kalet spoke on his own behalf; he said the union plans to release a statement in the coming days.)
“We have somebody who is offering, in a public way on X, some opinions about genocide in Gaza and being retaliated against because of the opinions that he has,” Kalet said. “That, to me, is the definition of viewpoint censorship.”
New Jersey’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country’s largest Muslim advocacy group, condemned the Rutgers decision in a statement. CAIR-NJ Public Affairs Director Naureen Akhter criticized Rutgers for its “accommodation” of a student-led event with members of the Israeli military last month.
“We call on Rutgers School of Engineering to reinstate Rami Elghandour as commencement speaker and approach issues of student safety and freedom of expression with more care,” Akhter said.
The University of Michigan apologized last week when a history professor, while delivering a commencement speech celebrating previous female, Jewish, and Black students who fought for an inclusive education, thanked pro-Palestinian student activists.
Last year, Rutgers-Newark defended the decision to host comedian Ramy Youssef for a commencement speech after Assemblyman Avi Schnall (D-Lakewood) said his presence threatened to alienate the university’s Jewish students.
This article was updated at 5:10 p.m.
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