No valedictorian speech. No celebrity speakers. No main-stage ceremony, and no massive graduate walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” before tens of thousands of guests.

Instead, the University of Southern California’s graduating seniors — whose traditional main graduation ceremony was canceled — were thrown an alternative party Thursday night: a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the eve of smaller campus commencement ceremonies where diplomas were set to be awarded at individual school events.

The Thursday night event was billed as an “electric atmosphere” — capped at six tickets per grad — featuring a drone show, fireworks and a “special gift” for the Class of 2024: a hat from rap star Travis Scott’s collegiate clothing brand.

The university had pitched the event as a “Southern California-style” celebration to compensate for the loss of the main-stage ceremony with a valedictorian, keynote speeches and the presentation of honorary degrees. But turmoil and campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war upended that ritual.

Thia Broido, a graduating senior who sat on a top row at the Coliseum with her parents and brother Thursday night, said she was saddened by the controversial cancellation of the main commencement.

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Her high school commencement was upended by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the graduation stage replaced by a “super cute” drive-in ceremony and social distancing, she said.

For her college graduation, she was glad to have the family-friendly event at the Coliseum, but she said it didn’t “remove anything that has happened” over the last few weeks.

“I don’t want to be a downer about it,” Broido said. “I’m happy for what we have. But what USC is doing is ongoing, and I can’t forget about that.”

Citing unspecified safety threats, USC President Carol Folt last month rescinded pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot and then canceled the main ceremony. After students set up a pro-Palestinian tent encampment and demanded that USC divest its financial ties with Israel, Folt and her team called in the Los Angeles Police Department, and 93 people were arrested. On Sunday morning, police cleared a second encampment, but no arrests were made.

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