View Only Top Items in This Story

Alan Goodwin, principal of Whitman, said he reached a niece of Thomas’s earlier in the day and they agreed to cancel the appearance after the footage of Thomas’s May 27 remarks generated widespread criticism. “We had a mutual understanding about her not coming,” Goodwin said.

“Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness,” Goodwin said in an e-mail to Whitman parents. “Graduation is the time for a cohesive and joyous celebration of our students’ achievements.”…

“I don’t know why anybody would ask a person like that to speak at a commencement ceremony,” Whitman parent Raisa Slepoy said, “. . . especially where there’s a pretty large Jewish population.”