U of A students call for cancellation of graduation speaker accused by ex-partner

The student groups put out a petition calling on UA administrators to remove Schmidt as the commencement speaker, held a press conference about the issue this week, and sent an email statement to all faculty departments.

Audrey Zelinka, a member of a UA student advocacy group called Students for Socialism and one of the speakers at the press conference, noted that faculty, students and staff got an email last week from UA President Suresh Garimella announcing Schmidt as the speaker at commencement. UA’s commencement ceremony is taking place at 7:30 p.m. on May 15 at Casino Del Sol Stadium, formerly Arizona Stadium.

Schmidt “used to be the CEO of Google, so already we know we disagree with Google’s AI (artificial intelligence) policies, compliance with the U.S. military and agreeing to lend their technologies to U.S. military projects,” Zelinka told the Arizona Daily Star.

“And then, basically, students and faculty looked deeper and found out that he had all these mentions in the ‘Epstein Files’ and that (his ex-girlfriend and business partner) Michelle Ritter had an open case against him,” said Zelinka. “And basically, we were like, ‘Oh this is not somebody that we think represents the student body or student futures, this is not somebody that we should look up to.’”

There are many other people who would make better commencement speakers and represent the values of the university better, said Zelinka, who is graduating next week with a master’s in public health after studying family and child health.

In November 2025, Ritter filed a lawsuit against Schmidt, alleging he “forcibly raped” her while on a yacht off the coast of Mexico in 2021, and that they had sex without her consent during the 2023 Burning Man festival in Nevada, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Times also reported Ritter alleged that Schmidt, with the help of a team of company engineers, had built a “backdoor” to Google servers that allowed him to spy on her and anyone with a Google account. She argued that such alleged digital surveillance, as well as putting private investigators on her, amounted to sexual harassment.

Schmidt’s attorney Patricia Glaser told HR Grapevine, a news outlet for human resources professionals, that the lawsuit is “yet another desperate and destructive effort to publish false and defamatory statements to escape accountability from an existing arbitration over a business dispute.”

Glaser said the claims are contradicted by Ritter’s “own words” and described the lawsuit as a final attempt to avoid “the consequences of her own actions.”

The lawsuit was sent to arbitration in March by a Los Angeles judge, the LA Times reported. Ritter had argued that a 2022 federal law entitled her to have her case heard in open court, but Superior Court Judge Michael Small disagreed, ruling that the law did not apply because a financial settlement and arbitration agreement Ritter and Schmidt signed in December 2024 was entered into after the alleged sexual wrongdoing — not before, as legally required.

The UA students' petition also says “Schmidt is named in the Epstein Files as a frequent invitee to Epstein’s island."

According to national reports, there is little to no direct interaction between Schmidt and Epstein shown in the files, the collection of approximately 3.5 million pages of investigative records, court documents, and physical evidence related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking network. CBS News reported that Schmidt is said to have declined an invitation to a dinner at Epstein’s house in 2013, and Epstein wrote the same year that he hadn’t seen the former Google CEO in “quite a while.”

National news outlets have reported that spokespeople for Google did not comment, and the spokesperson for Schmidt declined to comment when the Epstein references were released. Spokespeople for Schmidt declined to comment with the Star as well.

UA's response

UA spokesperson Mitch Zak, in response to student concerns, told the Star: “Commencement is a defining moment for our university, recognizing the success of every student alongside their families and our community.

"We invited Eric Schmidt to deliver the commencement address in recognition of his extraordinary leadership and global contributions in technology, innovation and scientific advancement. He helped lead Google’s rise into one of the world’s most influential technology companies and continues to advance research and discovery through major philanthropic and scientific initiatives, including partnerships that support important work at the University of Arizona.”

Zak did not address the Star’s questions about whether the UA considered the lawsuit's allegations against Schmidt while selecting him as the commencement speaker or will directly respond to the concerned students.

Petition circulated

A petition was started by UA’s Women and Gender Student Council, one of the student groups voicing their disapproval of Schmidt as the commencement speaker, citing Ritter's allegations and saying of Schmidt: “Someone who does this should not be honored for his ‘contributions’ to science.'"

The petition, sent out on April 28, had gathered 850 signatures as of Wednesday and was addressed to various UA administrators, including Garimella.

“In the United States, college students of all gender identities are the largest demographic of sexual assault survivors,” the petition says. “To invite Eric Schmidt to speak at our commencement sends a distressing message to survivors as well as the whole of our campus community."

The other student advocacy groups that took part in the press conference calling for a change in commencement speaker included FORCE Feminist Pharmacy.

A campus advocacy group, the Coalition to Protect Students and Workers, also sent out an email statement to all UA faculty departments against having Schmidt as speaker.

Working with UA on telescope

In addition to being the commencement speaker, Schmidt is also set to receive an honorary UA degree from UA’s College of Science. He is currently working with the UA on a privately funded space telescope.

Schmidt Sciences’ mission, a philanthropic organization Schmidt co-founded with his wife Wendy Schmidt, is to develop Lazuli, the world’s first fully privately funded space telescope. The UA will develop  instruments for the 3-meter space telescope that will advance a range of astrophysical investigations, UA officials have said.

Garimella said in announcing Schmidt's speech that “through his investments in scientific discovery and emerging technologies, he continues to power research that shapes the future, including his partnership with our scholars to expand the frontiers of exploration.”

He said Schmidt’s career reflects what is possible when innovation is paired with purpose, and speaks directly to the UA commitment of “preparing graduates not only to navigate a rapidly-changing world, but to lead, discover and create opportunity within it.”