VCU to release Sereen Haddad’s degree after months of withholding, outcry
Heciel Nieves Bonilla, Assistant News Editor
Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
Sereen Haddad had a simple response to VCU after student affairs assigned her a “reflective paper” in February for yet another policy violation over her pro-Palestine activism on campus.
Haddad, a Palestinian, turned in a list of names — 40 of her over 200 relatives killed in Gaza under Israeli fire since Oct. 7, 2023, followed by her reason for applying to VCU: her belief that the institution valued diversity, free speech and social justice.
“Instead, I’ve come to realize that VCU uses the label of ‘diversity’ as a marketing tool rather than a genuine commitment,” Haddad wrote.
Now Haddad, who graduated in May, is set to be the last of three student activists to receive their degrees after they were withheld from them for months over conduct charges.
Haddad, Selma Ait-Bella and Zahra Jalajel — all prominent members of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at VCU — were notified in May they were under investigation for possibly breaking VCU’s interim campus expression and space utilization policy during a gathering on April 29.
The gathering was held on the anniversary of VCU’s violent April 2024 Gaza solidarity encampment, according to previous reports by The Commonwealth Times. Roughly 50 students laid out blankets and banners on the James Branch Cabell Library lawn. They were encouraged to bring snacks, art supplies and games, according to a post on the SJP VCU Instagram.
Attendees received conflicting information from student affairs and police throughout the afternoon on what constituted signage and whether or not they could remain on the lawn. One administrator told participants they were allowed to have blankets and banners out as long as they sat on them, before police told them to leave entirely.
VCU Police asked students to relocate 100 yards away from the lawn to the “designated area for free speech” at the Park Plaza Amphitheatre and said students could not hold signs with political messages on them.
VCU introduced a new policy in August 2024 banning protests on the lawn, a prominent space in the heart of campus, after Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares asked universities to instate new rules in a letter to sent the month prior.
Ait-Bella and Jalajel received their degrees earlier in the summer after back-and-forth meetings with student affairs, according to VPM News. Haddad, who was not a first-time offender, continued to have her diploma withheld until this week.
Haddad found out on Saturday that she won her appeal to the policy violation she was accused of and would receive her degree.
“I cannot separate this small victory from the reality that at this very same moment millions of Palestinians are being starved in Gaza intentionally, systematically and with the support of the very systems that tried to silence me,” Haddad stated on Instagram.
VCU spokesperson Brian McNeill told The CT that privacy laws prevent him from discussing the conduct process involving a specific student. He referred to a statement released in May that said VCU policy did not authorize events on the lawn.
It took pressure on a case VCU could not defend to get her degree, Haddad stated on Instagram. Over 12,000 people signed a petition to have her degree released. She picked up attention from nationwide coverage of her case, including a Democracy Now interview viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
Haddad and others have had multiple run-ins with VCU Student Affairs for violating various policies since Oct. 7, 2023 — when Hamas militants attacked Israel and killed around 1,200 people. Israel has killed at least 60,000 people in Gaza since then through air strikes and gunfire, as well as starvation by blocking aid to the famine-induced strip, according to the Associated Press.
Haddad received two policy violations last fall for writing pro-Palestine chalk messages on the ground outside the library and placing miniature Palestinian flags on the library lawn, according to documents she shared. She also received a warning in 2023 for amplifying her speech at a protest with a speaker.
Haddad, Ait-Bella and Jalajel have participated in numerous anti-genocide protests, marches and demonstrations on campus since 2023. Haddad first shared WhatsApp messages from her family in Gaza — who had just had their food, water and electricity cut off by Israel — at a protest in October 2023, according to a previous report by The CT.
“We still have life but we don’t know for how long,” one message read.
Haddad revealed during a walkout in November 2023 that 72 of her relatives in Gaza had been killed. Her family’s death toll has risen to at least 200 over the course of nearly two years.
Haddad and other students reported that they received injuries from police during the April 2024 encampment, including black eyes, cuts, bruises and sprained wrists and shoulders. Haddad said one officer pinned her to the ground and pressed his knee against her neck.
Nearly a year later, in her essay to student affairs, Haddad argued that VCU had failed in its role as a university to foster critical thought and challenge injustice.
“I have lost over 200 family members in Gaza,” Haddad wrote. “I wake up everyday knowing that my people are being slaughtered while institutions like VCU remain silent — or worse, actively suppress those who speak out.”
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