Sundar Pichai’s Stanford homecoming met with boos, walkout and pro-Palestine protest

A section of graduating students walked out of Stanford University’s commencement ceremony during a speech by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, turning one of the institution’s biggest annual celebrations into a platform for pro-Palestine protest.

The demonstration was organised by Stanford’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and allied groups, which had publicly called for a walkout ahead of the event. Protest organisers said the action was aimed at challenging Google’s ties to Israel.

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Videos circulating online showed students leaving the ceremony carrying Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine” as Pichai delivered his commencement address.

Hundreds of Stanford students walked out during Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s commencement speech. While other campus speakers faced backlash over AI this year, Pichai avoided the topic entirely, focusing instead on optimism, resilience, and personal growth. pic.twitter.com/VpLGdjitg2

— StarSnap 🌟 (@StarSnap_1) June 15, 2026

Ahead of the event, Stanford SJP urged students to participate in the protest and criticised Google’s role in what it described as the surveillance and killing of Palestinians.

“We don’t need another tech billionaire to tell us how to get rich off of the killing and surveillance of Palestinians,” the group said. “Take a stance against war profiteering. Tell the Google CEO that he is not welcome.”

Pichai, who earned a master’s degree from Stanford in 1995 and now leads Google and its parent company Alphabet, addressed the university’s graduating class during the institution’s 135th commencement ceremony on Sunday.

Speaking to students, he reflected on pivotal moments that shape people’s lives and careers.

“If you are able to filter the signal through the noise, you can nudge your life in these moments into having the impact you want,” he said.

Pichai also encouraged graduates to remain hopeful despite global uncertainty.

“Choose optimism. This might not true to you at this moment. The world is going through a lot- global conflicts, economic anxiety, a rewiring of technology, information overload, all at a fast pace… We don’t get to choose the world we graduate into, but we do get to choose how we frame our circumstances,” he told the gathering.

He further urged students to pursue difficult challenges and focus on work that genuinely excites them.

According to Stanford University, more than 20,000 people attended the ceremony at Stanford Stadium, including about 3,600 graduating students, making it one of the university’s largest commencement events.

The protest comes amid a series of demonstrations at university campuses across the United States linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Student activists have repeatedly used graduation ceremonies and other high-profile campus events to voice opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.