At a Seattle University graduation ceremony earlier this week, a student unfurled a Palestinian flag onstage as she approached Provost Shane P. Martin for a picture. The provost snatched the flag away, hiding it from the camera before posing for the picture. Then he took her by the arm and led her away.

It was later revealed that the interim president of Seattle University also tried to prevent Sumeyya Osman, the student, from bringing the flag to graduation.

Although students had been warned that such acts would not be permitted during their commencement, Osman complained that her religious rights had been infringed upon, since her religion forbids her to touch men. Later, she appeared at a press conference with the local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Its director, Imraan Siddiqi, has called for the university to issue an apology.

The FBI had named CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the biggest terrorism-financing case in history.

Unfurling Palestinian flags and pro-Hamas signs has become all the virtue-signaling rage at college commencements.

In May, CUNY Law’s graduation ceremonies turned into anti-Israel platforms in which students waved Palestinian flags and signs and chanted pro-Gaza slogans.

During one commencement, as each student walked on stage, they held up to the audience Palestinian flags and signs with slogans such as “CUNY DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE NOW!,” “JEWS AGAINST GENOCIDE,” “SILENCE = DEATH” and “NONE OF OUR TUITION FOR ISRAEL’S CRIMES.” On the other hand, no American flags were visible.

At CUNY Law’s first graduation ceremony following Oct. 7, a student speaker used her platform to heavily criticize Israel. After fierce backlash from then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other public officials, the school condemned the talk as hate speech.

As a result of the controversy, CUNY stopped allowing students to deliver remarks at the graduation ceremony, prompting students to file a lawsuit alleging that CUNY was violating students’ free speech rights.