{"id":4325,"date":"2025-05-31T07:14:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T07:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/?p=4325"},"modified":"2025-05-31T07:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T07:14:09","slug":"make-america-great-not-possible-without-immigrants-meaningful-commencement-speech-at-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/?p=4325&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMake America Great\u201d: Not Possible Without Immigrants \u2013 Meaningful Commencement Speech at Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harvard University\u2019s 2025 commencement ceremony was not only an academic celebration, but also an opportunity to reflect on immigration, academic freedom, and political oppression. Stanford University professor and author Dr. Abraham Verghese\u2019s speech (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4mjPt7cZW1k?si=K2SCPaQf2mXy1dlQ\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/4mjPt7cZW1k?si=K2SCPaQf2mXy1dlQ<\/a>) shed light on these issues and inspired the graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verghese, who was born in Ethiopia and studied medicine in India, shared his own immigration experiences in his speech. Verghese, who came to the US to pursue a career in medicine, emphasized the opportunities America offers to immigrants and the contribution of this diversity to the country\u2019s strength. He also criticized the Trump administration\u2019s policies towards international students and praised Harvard\u2019s stance against these oppressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verghese called on the graduates to appreciate the value of life and make the most of their time. Another important statement in the speech was the sentence, \u201cCharacter is determined by decisions made under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one of the most striking moments of his speech, Dr. Abraham Verghese made reference to the slogan \u201cMake America Great Again,\u201d frequently used by former US President Donald Trump. However, Verghese emphasized that in order for this statement to truly come to life, the contributions of immigrants must be recognized. Drawing on his own immigration story, he reminded us that America has developed through international contributions in many areas, from science to the arts, technology to health. \u201cWhat makes this country great is its values \u200b\u200bthat keep it open to the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This emphasis was both a reference to political rhetoric and a strong message against rising xenophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his speech at the commencement ceremony, Harvard President Alan Garber reiterated the university\u2019s commitment to its global student community. He stated that international students are an integral part of Harvard, with the phrase \u201cfrom all over the world \u2013 as they should be.\u201d This statement was interpreted as a stance against the Trump administration\u2019s restrictions on international student visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harvard University has once again demonstrated its commitment to academic freedom and diversity by standing up to the pressures on international students. Verghese\u2019s speech provided an opportunity for not only graduates but also society as a whole to reflect on unity, solidarity and human values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard University\u2019s 2025 commencement ceremony was not only an academic celebration, but also an opportunity to reflect on immigration, academic freedom, and political oppression. Stanford University professor and author Dr. Abraham Verghese\u2019s speech (https:\/\/youtu.be\/4mjPt7cZW1k?si=K2SCPaQf2mXy1dlQ) shed light on these issues and inspired the graduates. Verghese, who was born in Ethiopia and studied medicine in India, shared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/academicsolidarity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250531Harvard.png?fit=1373%2C693&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4327,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4325\/revisions\/4327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}