Class of 2024 reflects on college years marked by COVID-19, protests and life's lost milestones

LOS ANGELES -- On a caller afternoon, Grant Oh zigzagged crossed the University of Southern California field arsenic if helium was conquering an obstacle course, coming up against constabulary blockade aft constabulary blockade connected his mode to his flat portion officers arrested demonstrators protesting the Israel-Hamas war.

In galore ways, the chaotic infinitesimal was the culmination of a assemblage beingness that started amid the coronavirus pandemic and has been marked by continual upheaval successful what has go a changeless conflict for normalcy. Oh already missed his prom and his precocious schoolhouse graduation arsenic COVID-19 surged successful 2020. He started assemblage with online classes. Now the 20-year-old volition adhd different missed milestone to his life: USC has canceled its main commencement ceremonial that was expected to beryllium attended by 65,000 people.

His lone graduation ceremonial was successful mediate schoolhouse and determination were nary caps and gowns.

“It’s brainsick due to the fact that I retrieve starting freshman twelvemonth with the commencement of the Russian penetration of Ukraine, which came aft elder twelvemonth of precocious schoolhouse erstwhile the Black Lives Matter protests were happening and COVID, and xenophobia,” helium said “It feels decidedly surreal. It inactive shocks maine that we unrecorded successful a satellite that is truthful fired up and truthful consenting to teardrop itself apart.”

Oh, who is getting a grade successful wellness promotion and illness prevention, added that his nonaccomplishment of a memorable infinitesimal pales successful examination to what is happening: “At the extremity of the day, radical are dying.”

College campuses person ever been a hotbed for protests from the civilian rights epoch to the Vietnam warfare to demonstrations implicit apartheid successful South Africa. But students contiguous besides transportation further stresses from having lived done the isolation and fearfulness from the pandemic, and the regular power of societal media that amplifies the world’s wrongs similar ne'er before, experts say.

It’s not conscionable astir missed milestones. Study aft survey shows Generation Z suffers from overmuch higher rates of anxiousness and slump than Millennials, said Jean Twenge, a scientist and prof astatine San Diego State University, who wrote a publication called “Generations.” She attributes overmuch of that to the information that negativity spreads faster and wider connected societal media than affirmative posts.

“Gen Z, they thin to beryllium overmuch much pessimistic than Millennials," she said. "The question going guardant is bash they instrumentality this pessimism and crook it into factual enactment and change, oregon bash they crook it into annihilation and chaos?”

Protesters person pitched tents connected campuses from Harvard and MIT to Stanford and the University of Texas, Austin, raising tensions arsenic galore schools hole for outpouring commencements. Hundreds of students person been arrested crossed the country. Inspired by demonstrations astatine Columbia University, students astatine much than a twelve U.S. colleges person formed pro-Palestinian encampments and pledged to enactment enactment until their demands are met.

The field volition beryllium closed for the semester astatine California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, which has been negotiating with students who person been barricaded wrong a field gathering since Monday, rebuffing an effort by the constabulary to wide them out.

USC announced Thursday that it would beryllium calling disconnected its main graduation ceremonial aft protests erupted implicit not lone the Israel-Hamas warfare but the school's determination earlier this period to telephone disconnected the commencement code by its valedictorian Asna Tabassum, who expressed enactment for Palestinians. Officials cited information concerns.

“By trying to soundlessness Asna, it made everything mode worse,” Oh said, adding that helium hopes determination volition beryllium nary unit connected graduation time May 10 erstwhile smaller ceremonies volition beryllium held by antithetic departments.

Maurielle McGarvey graduated from precocious schoolhouse successful 2019 truthful was capable to person a ceremonial but past she took a spread twelvemonth erstwhile galore universities held classes lone online. McGarvey, who is getting a grade successful screenwriting with a insignificant successful sex and societal justness studies astatine USC, called the cancellations “heartbreaking,” and said the concern has been grossly mishandled by the university. She said constabulary with batons came astatine her yelling arsenic she held a banner portion she and chap demonstrators said a Jewish prayer.

“It's decidedly been similar an wide diminished acquisition and to instrumentality distant similar the past benignant of similar emblematic happening that this people was allowed aft having truthful galore weird restrictions, truthful galore customs and traditions changed,” she said. “It’s specified a bummer.”

She said the email by the assemblage announcing the cancellation peculiarly stung with its nexus to photos of past graduates successful gowns tossing up their caps and cheering. “That's conscionable insult to injury," she said.

Students astatine different universities were arsenic glum.

“Our people is cursed,” said Abbie Barkan of Atlanta, 21, who is graduating from the University of Texas successful 2 weeks with a journalism grade and who was among a radical of Jewish students waving flags and chanting astatine a counter-protest Thursday adjacent a pro-Palestinian objection connected campus.

University of Minnesota elder Sarah Dawley, who participated successful pro-Palestinian protests, is grateful graduation plans person not changed astatine her school. But she said the past weeks person near her with a premix of emotions. She's been dismayed to ticker colleges telephone successful police.

But she said she besides feels anticipation aft having gone done the pandemic and go portion of a assemblage that stands up for what they judge in.

“I deliberation a batch of radical are going to spell connected to bash chill things due to the fact that aft each this, we attraction a lot,” she said.

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Watson reported from San Diego. AP journalists Stefanie Dazio and Eugene Garcia successful Los Angeles, Mark Vancleave successful Minneapolis, Jim Vertuno and Acacia Coronado successful Austin, Texas, and Rodrique Ngowi successful Boston contributed to this report.