During Middlebury College's commencement ceremony, graduating student Faith Wood, a Film, Media, Culture, and Environmental Studies major, delivered a powerful address urging her fellow graduates and alumni to redirect their financial support from the institution to aid the people of Gaza. Wearing a rainbow scarf and keffiyeh, Wood's speech focused on the plight of Gazan cities and what she described as the college's complicity in their suffering.
Wood challenged her classmates to leverage their alumni status for change, suggesting they donate to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency instead of their alma mater. "Being an alum of Middlebury College gives you power... Leveraging that collective power... can be that difference," she stated, urging the audience to "pledge to donate any money you would have to Middlebury" to the UN agency. She linked this call to action with a plea for Middlebury to divest from what she termed "war profiteering."
Wood's speech also criticized the college for its perceived inaction in the face of the destruction of educational institutions in Gaza. She drew a parallel between Middlebury's resources and those available to students in Gaza, asserting that students at the Vermont college deserve nothing more than their counterparts in the war-torn region. "There is simply nothing we as students... deserve that students of the eleven institutions of higher education in Gaza do not also deserve," Wood declared.
Beyond the focus on Gaza, Wood also expressed concerns about the political climate, referencing the return of a "fascist" to office – presumably a reference to former President Donald Trump – and subsequent policy decisions. She cited the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, denial of transgender rights, and increased ICE arrests as specific examples.
This incident follows a previous controversy at Middlebury College, where the institution faced a lawsuit from the StandWithUs organization alleging a failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus. Fox News Digital reached out to Middlebury College for comment on Wood's commencement address.
