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Rutgers Cancels Engineer Commencement After Anti-Israel Tweet Controversy

5/7/2026

Summary

Story summary

Rutgers University withdrew the invitation to Rami Elghandour after a student complaint about his tweet alleging Israel trains dogs to sexually assault prisoners.
The May 15 commencement address at Rutgers’s School of Engineering was cancelled.
Some graduating students said they would skip the ceremony because of Elghandour’s social-media criticism of Israel.
Elghandour, CEO of Arcellx, posted a statement on X criticizing the decision after declining comment.

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Story summary

Rutgers University withdrew the invitation to Rami Elghandour after a student complaint about his tweet alleging Israel trains dogs to sexually assault prisoners.
The May 15 commencement address at Rutgers’s School of Engineering was cancelled.
Some graduating students said they would skip the ceremony because of Elghandour’s social-media criticism of Israel.
Elghandour, CEO of Arcellx, posted a statement on X criticizing the decision after declining comment.