by THOMAS BREEN The new haven independent
Matt flew in from Minnesota for the day to celebrate his brother-in-law’s graduation from Yale’s medical school.
But his family didn’t have enough tickets for him to join in with the thousands of other proud family members and friends at the university’s commencement ceremony.
So instead, he found himself out on College Street on the Green — wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of flowers, and watching approvingly as several dozen pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Israel’s continued war in Gaza.
Matt (who declined to share his last name for this article) snapped photos and spoke encouragingly of the protesters as they cheered “Free Free Palestine” and “Disclose! Divest!” across the street from Yale’s commencement ceremony.
Matt, who said he is a medical student in Minnesota, said he had come to town for the day with a group of family members to support his brother-in-law as the latter graduated from the Yale School of Medicine. He planned on heading back to Minnesota later in the day.
The only problem upon arriving in New Haven: he and his family members realized that they only had three tickets to commencement, not enough for him to actually make it inside for the ceremony on Yale’s downtown campus.
So Matt found himself standing on the sidewalk on College Street, on the edge of a crowd of several dozen pro-Palestinian protesters. (That crowd grew over the course of the morning as a group of graduating Yale seniors walked out of commencement to join the protest.)
Matt wasn’t chanting or waving any flags or signs himself. But he did take a few photos, and spoke to this reporter about his support for their demonstration. These “people are peaceful. They’re just showing their support” for Gaza, he said.
He took a few more photos before resuming his spot at the edge of the crowd as protesters continued by chanting, “Yale, Yale, can’t you see, you’re on the wrong side of history!”
Even though he wasn’t able to attend commencement Monday morning, Matt wasn’t too worried. He’d be able to cheer on his brother-in-law in person later in the day at the med school’s smaller graduation ceremony.
The Monday morning protest facing Yale’s campus…
… commencement attendees line up on College St.
