Press "Enter" to skip to content

Valedictorian's Speech Cut Off When She Veers From Script


A valedictorian’s speech was abruptly cut off at a North Bay high school last Saturday because she veered from the school administration’s approved script.

Petaluma High School senior Lulabel Seitz, who is headed to Stanford University in the fall, started to talk about the struggles the senior class had been through together then began talking about a personal struggle: she had been sexually assaulted on campus, she says, and the school did nothing about it. That’s when someone pulled the plug on her microphone.

Seitz’s speech on the Petaluma High football field started simply: “We’re all here today, and we’re graduating.”

She then spoke of what they’ve been through: ” … for instance, the fires, which caused many of us to lose our homes and miss school. We didn’t let that drag us down.”

(Editor’s Note: Seitz’s speech starts at the one hour mark of the video.)

Later, she started to veer: “We are not too young to speak up, to dream and to create change, which is why when some people on this campus, those same people …”

The mic then cuts off.

When her classmates realized what was happening, they began chanting, “Let her speak!”

Seitz later finished her speech online. Here’s what Seitz was going to say:

“Even learning on a campus in which some people defend perpetrators of sexual assault and silence their victims. We didn’t let that drag us down.”

Seitz explained her motive.

“The person didn’t get any consequences, and he was even there at graduation watching me give my speech,” she said. “And that’s just not fair to girls”

School district officials could not be reached for comment Thursday night, but district officials told the Press Democrat they couldn’t comment on the alleged sexual assault, citing student privacy laws. But on the speech, the district said students had their scripts approved and were warned the mic would be cut if they went off script.

Administrators also told the newspaper they received an unprecedented number of emails expressing concern Seitz might go off script.

Legal experts were split on whether the school had the right to stop the speech. Seitz has a strong case for challenging, they said, especially because she was not using obscenities or disrupting the crowd.

Seitz said she just wants the school to do more for its students.

Photo Credit: Seitz family
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Source: NBC Bay Area

Be First to Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *