The walkout began as Yale President Peter Salovey started to announce the traditional college-by-college presentation of candidates for degrees on the grounds of Yale's Old Campus, filled with thousands of graduates in their caps and gowns.

N EW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) - Yale students walked out of their commencement ceremony on Monday as they continue to call on the school to stop investing in weapons manufacturers. They said it’s directly tied to the ongoing war in the Middle East. Four years ago, this class lost their traditional high school graduation to the pandemic.

Documents reveal a pattern of targeted monitoring: administrator presence at rallies, police surveillance of social media, and coordination between campus, local, and state police.

The demonstration was the latest in an ongoing series of actions calling on Yale University to divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel with arms in its ongoing war in Gaza.

Before the commencement began, a group of students gathered on the New Haven Green across from the ceremony to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.