President Biden will deliver commencement addresses next month at Morehouse College in Georgia and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point at a time when anger over U.S. foreign policy has led to an eruption of student protests at several campuses.
In addition to the relatively traditional speech at West Point, which presidents often deliver at least once during their tenure, the stop at Morehouse will give Mr. Biden an opportunity to speak to students at a historically Black college in a key battleground state as he works to shore up support among young voters.
The announcement from the White House on Tuesday came during heightened tensions at several universities, including Columbia, New York University and Yale, in which police have been called in to clear crowds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Hundreds of people have been arrested while participating in campus demonstrations in recent days, and the disruptions at Columbia prompted the school to move classes online on Monday.
Reports of demonstrators targeting and harassing Jewish students at Columbia over the weekend also drew rebukes from the White House, as Mr. Biden and White House aides warned that some demonstrations had veered into antisemitism or praise for those who have expressed it.
Persons:
Biden
Organizations:
Morehouse College, U.S . Military Academy, West, Morehouse, White, Columbia , New York University and Yale, Columbia
Locations:
Georgia, West, Columbia ,