Washington DC - A student used her platform during a George Washington University (GW) graduation ceremony to speak out against Israel's US-backed atrocities in Palestine.

"For over a year, we have watched a genocide be committed against Palestinians," student Cecilia Culver said to cheers during GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony on Saturday.

"I cannot celebrate my own graduation without a heavy heart, knowing how many students in Palestine have been forced to stop their studies, expelled from their homes, and killed for simply remaining in the country of their ancestors."

Culver went on to call out the GW administration for failing to divest from Israel, as well as for attempting to suppress Palestine solidarity activism on campus.

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"I am ashamed to know my tuition is being used to fund this genocide," Culver said. "Despite repeated calls from students and faculty to disclose all endowments and investments by the university and divest from the apartheid state of Israel, the administration has refused to negotiate in good faith. Instead, they have oppressed anyone with the courage to point out the blood on their hands."

"I call upon the class of 2025 to withhold donations and continue advocating for disclosure and divestment. None of us are free until Palestine is free," she added.

Culver's remarks were met with a standing ovation from many in the audience.

According to the GW Hatchet student newspaper, officials are now investigating whether the economics and statistics graduate violated any university policies.

The news comes after New York University decided to withhold the diploma of Logan Rozos, a student speaker who also condemned the genocide in Gaza during a commencement address.

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GW in April suspended for a year the group Students for Justice in Palestine over demonstrations it said were unauthorized.

Culver's speech followed the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, which refers to the violent displacement, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that occurred in 1947-1949 during the creation of the state of Israel.

The Nakba's legacy continues today in Israel's mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank – conducted with billions of dollars in US weapons and military equipment.