Rami Elghandour #
Introduction #
Rami Elghandour is an Egyptian-American technology entrepreneur, a graduate of Rutgers’ School of Engineering, and the chair and CEO of Arcellx, a biotechnology company. He is also a film producer, serving as executive producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Voice of Hind Rajab, about a Palestinian five-year-old girl who was killed by the Israeli military while waiting to be rescued by paramedics. In May 2026, Rutgers abruptly rescinded its invitation for Elghandour to deliver the engineering school’s convocation address at its New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus on 15 May, after some graduating students complained about social media posts he had published about Palestine.
Background Information #
Elghandour built his career as a business leader while speaking openly about Palestinian rights. On social media he frequently posted about Palestine and shared posts by others, including reports documented by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights; the Associated Press reported that he frequently shared news articles and footage of violence in Gaza and the West Bank, along with his own commentary accusing Israel of committing war crimes and upholding a system of apartheid. Some critics characterized the material he shared as “antisemitic blood libel”. He said he had previously drawn criticism for his posts from an Arcellx shareholder and some social media users, and that he had a law firm review his social media history; the firm concluded it contained no hate speech, violence, or anything against his company’s code of conduct.
His ties to Rutgers were close. Earlier in 2026 he joined engineering dean Alberto Cuitiño for an on-campus “fireside chat” in which, by his account, the subject of Palestine came up repeatedly without anyone raising complaints. In an announcement later taken offline, the school celebrated him as an “impassioned champion” of gender fairness, social mobility, and “principled leadership”, and noted his work on the two films about Gaza. Beyond The Voice of Hind Rajab, he served as executive producer on American Doctor, a documentary about three US doctors working in Gaza during the war.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #
Context. No crime is alleged in this case. Elghandour’s invitation was rescinded over objections to the content of his social media posts about Palestine â a free-speech dispute, not a legal matter.
The School of Engineering rescinded Elghandour’s invitation after being “informed that some graduating students would not attend their graduation ceremony due to concerns about the invited speakerâs social media posts”, a Rutgers spokesperson confirmed. The spokesperson did not elaborate on the posts but confirmed they were focused on Israel. The ceremony was one of many planned as part of graduation at Rutgers, a public university with more than 70,000 students.
By Elghandour’s account, dean Alberto Cuitiño called him roughly two weeks before the event and said he was cancelling the speech because of students’ complaints, though he declined to say how many students or which posts, broadly describing them as “opposed to their beliefs”. Cuitiño told him he supported everyone “saying what they think” but that the students’ issue was “with you and your beliefs”, and said there would be no new speaker at the event, and possibly none in the future, to avoid similar issues. “This decision keeps the focus on our engineering students and honors the celebratory spirit of the event to ensure that no graduate feels forced to choose between their personal convictions and a convocation ceremony,” the spokesperson said.
Public Reaction and Consequences #
Elghandour challenged the university’s framing. “What is most puzzling to me is that they champion me for my humanitarian views and now theyâre canceling me for them,” he told the Guardian in an exclusive interview. He said he told the dean the cancellation sent a “dangerous” message to students: “Donât you dare speak up and say anything that you believe.”
The decision landed during a commencement season again marked by disputes over pro-Palestinian speech. New York University had banned some live speeches at that year’s ceremonies, the City University of New York’s law school had banned student speeches altogether, and the College of Staten Island was pre-recording student addresses. Days earlier, the University of Michigan publicly disavowed commencement remarks by history professor Derek Peterson honoring “pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israelâs war in Gaza”, prompting an apology from the university president that academic and free-speech groups condemned. Republican officials and donors threatened to strip the university of funding, saying the comments created a hostile environment for Jewish students.
More than 1,400 Michigan faculty members condemned the president’s remarks, as did the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers.
The wider backdrop included the 2024 wave of graduation protests and walkouts, universities denouncing pro-Palestinian student speeches â including by withholding at least one diploma â and a lawsuit filed weeks earlier by Cecilia Culver, a George Washington University alumna barred from campus after using a graduation speech to criticize the university’s ties to Israel.
Current Status #
As of the most recent reporting, the engineering convocation remained scheduled for 15 May 2026 with no replacement speaker, after Cuitiño said none would be named to avoid similar issues. The school’s announcement celebrating Elghandour’s selection had been taken offline, and Rutgers did not elaborate on the posts at issue. Elghandour gave the Guardian his account of the dean’s call; he did not respond to a message from the Associated Press seeking comment.
Impact on Their Career/Life #
Elghandour said he had been looking forward to delivering the address and had not planned to speak about Palestine, intending instead to discuss “kindness being a superpower” and how to be successful “without compromising your beliefs” â a question he said students often asked him. Instead, he framed the cancellation as part of a larger pattern: “I think [Palestine] is the moral issue of our time and I believe itâs been used to undermine democratic institutions in the US,” he said, calling the rescinded invitation a sign of an “erosion of free speech and the first amendment”. “We’ve seen a livestreamed genocide,” he added. “And we’re supposed to worry about the feelings of the people who support that.”