Key facts
- Approximately 200 Stanford students walked out during Google CEO Sundar Pichai's commencement address.
- The protest targeted Google's business ties with the Israeli government, specifically Project Nimbus, and its relationship with ICE.
- Student signs and chants expressed solidarity with Palestine and criticized Google's actions.
- The walkout was organized by pro-Palestinian and anti-tech-industry activist groups.
- Tech investor Vinod Khosla criticized the protest, while lawmaker Ro Khanna defended it.
During Stanford University's commencement ceremony, approximately 200 students walked out during Google CEO Sundar Pichai's keynote address. The protest focused on Google's business dealings with the Israeli government, specifically the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus cloud-computing contract, and its relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Students carried Palestinian flags, chanted slogans like 'free Palestine,' and displayed signs including 'ICE SPIES WITH GOOGLE AI' and 'GENOCIDE RUNS ON GOOGLE.'
The walkout was organized by groups such as Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid. Pichai, a Stanford alumnus, has faced internal dissent over Project Nimbus, and Google previously fired 28 workers for protesting the contract. Tech investor Vinod Khosla criticized the protest as 'biased' and 'selfish,' while lawmaker Ro Khanna defended the students' right to express their views.