<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The same day, the university\u2019s president, Domenico Grasso, issued a public apology, saying the comments were \u201cinappropriate and do not represent our institutional position.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe regret the pain this has caused on a day devoted to celebration and accomplishment,\u201d Grasso said, adding that Peterson\u2019s speech \u201cdeviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n The swift apology did not stop some Republican officials, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott, from calling for the school to be stripped of federal funding. A Republican member of the Board of Regents, which governs the public university, also hinted at possible discipline for the professor. The prominent Israeli-American investor Adam Milstein urged Jewish people to halt any donations to the school.<\/p>\n Peterson said he stood by the comments, calling it \u201cridiculous\u201d to expect that graduations be apolitical. <\/p>\n \u201cMichigan is not a finishing school for polite young men and women,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThey do not need sentimental, cloying nostalgia. They need encouragement to face a flawed and unjust world head on, using the tools we\u2019ve given them: critical reasoning, careful research, sympathy for the oppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson also accused the administration of scrubbing the speech from the internet. A university spokesperson said it had been temporarily removed by YouTube over a music copyright issue and was back online. <\/p>\n In a joint letter published Tuesday, a coalition of academic labor groups \u2014 including the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers \u2014 condemned the university\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n \u201cInstitutional leaders have an obligation not only to tolerate faculty speech, but to defend it \u2014 especially in the face of external political pressure,\u201d the letter read. <\/p>\n The speech came two years after protests against the war in Gaza erupted across college campuses, leading to canceled speeches<\/a> and other disruptions to the springtime commencement ritual. Michigan\u2019s campus saw students form a campground and walk out from classes in protest of the war. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778066234_353_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n