Ahead of the University of Michigan's commencement on Saturday, the school has trained staff volunteers in how to mitigate disruptions: a change from the usual duties of guiding guests around campus and showing them to their seats.

At schools like the University of Southern California and Cal Poly Humboldt in northern California, leaders have canceled or moved key events off campus altogether. What are typically joyful ceremonies in which robed students cross stages to accept diplomas will have a different feel this month at many universities where pro-Palestinian protests and police crackdowns have upended the final days of the school-year.

Protesters chanted anti-war messages and waved Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan's commencement Saturday, as student demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war collided with the annual pomp-and-circumstance of graduation season at American universities.