University of Michigan – Derek Peterson Commencement Speech

On May 2, 2026, University of Michigan history professor Derek Peterson, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, delivered the university’s spring commencement address at Michigan Stadium. Peterson’s speech focused on the history of student activism at the university and highlighted past movements and individuals who had advocated for social change. Near the conclusion of his remarks, Peterson praised “pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” His remarks referred to students who had protested the university’s response to the war in Gaza and did not address Israeli victims of the conflict or the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Later that day, University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso issued a statement addressing Peterson’s remarks regarding the Israel Gaza conflict. Grasso said the comments had “hurt and offended members of our community” and that they “do not represent our institutional position.” He said the commencement address was intended to focus on graduates and that Peterson’s remarks differed from the version of the speech reviewed before the ceremony.

On May 4, 2026, Peterson defended the remarks and said the reference to pro-Palestinian student activists had been included in the version of the speech reviewed before commencement. He said the purpose of the address was to discuss “the history of student activism at the University of Michigan” and argued that commencement speakers had historically addressed issues of public concern. Peterson said he stood by his statement that student protesters had drawn attention to “injustice and inhumanity.”

In a May 7, 2026 statement, Peterson continued to defend the speech and disputed that he had departed from the substance of the remarks reviewed before the ceremony. He said university administrators had been aware of the sentence referencing pro-Palestinian activists and that he had worked with administrators to phrase the comments “as diplomatically as possible.” Peterson said he was speaking in his individual capacity and not on behalf of the university or Faculty Senate. He also said he regretted that his remarks had caused “offence” and acknowledged that he “should have found a suitable way to acknowledge the personal trauma that some of our students experienced on 7 October 2023.”