With fireworks, a marching band, celebrity congratulations and a drone show, the University of Southern California on Thursday tried to smooth over the weeks of tumult that have cleaved its campus and upended its traditional commencement with a hastily assembled party for its graduates.
There were no protesters or any direct mentions of the recent turmoil in the tight one-hour ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The party was held in lieu of the typical pomp and pageantry-filled commencement at the campus. It took place three weeks after the university canceled a speech by its valedictorian, who is Muslim, which touched off intense campus protests.
Despite the pyrotechnics and thundering music, Thursday night's audience was rather subdued, with much of the 78,000-seat stadium empty. Celebrities, professors and an Olympian wished graduates well, mostly on videos that played on the big screen, giving the ceremony an air of a pandemic-era Zoom call.
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