Students holding UA accountable - Eric Schmidt commencement
Hi, all!
The 2026 commencement was a hot-mess-express, and students are still trying to hold UA admin accountable for the decision to not only bring him, but award him an honorary degree without the approval of our faculty senate (which destroys the idea of shared governance on our campus, which is something people have fought for for decades). Basically, Garimella and Dean Garzione of the College of Science decided they would ignore students, faculty, and literally EVERYONE else on campus (including our ASUA student government!!) and bring Schmidt because they thought his telescope would make the school money. He's been booed, and it's been discussed widely in the media (see here, here, here). One recent UA Alumna and former Daily Wildcat reporter has shared this on substack about the speech.
One piece that IS missing in the coverage, though, is that Eric Schmidt is also an abuser and that is why students originally organized - they didn't even know how AWFUL his AI-worshipping speech would be. You can see news stories on that here and here.
Students are trying to hold UA accountable for this. If you're interested in staying in touch about the ongoing discussions re: shared governance, anti-violence, and more, I would check out affiliate student organizations (who ARE official UA clubs! :) ): FORCE (Feminists Organized to Resist, Create, and Empower, force_ua on Instagram), Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and Students For Socialism (ua_sfs on Instagram).
Stay tuned for how incredible students are!!