American Tamil Shruthi Kumar’s 2024 Harvard graduation speech goes viral

American Tamil, Shruthi Kumar was invited to deliver a speech “The Power of Not Knowing,” at her Harvard graduation ceremony after winning a college contest.

Going off-script, she calls out the university for punishing 13 Pro-Palestinian undergraduates, by barring them from graduating for their involvement in campus protests.

More than 1,000 students walked out of the ceremony as part of a staged protest, many waving Palestinian flags or banners calling for an end to genocide.

Shruthi, a Diana Award winner, is the founder of Go Yogi, a non-profit to raise awareness for the necessity of mental health education in schools.

In 2019, Shruthi was named the Voice of Democracy National First Place Winner. Her speech, on the theme, “What Makes America Great.”