Syracuse University students are petitioning the college to remove this year's commencement ceremony speaker, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon. 

More than 1000 students, alumni and parents have signed an online petition posted by the student group Take Back 2010 Syracuse University Commencement--a number representing over one-fifth of SU's senior class. According to the petition, students are "against using the 2010 commencement to restore the public image of the banking industry and validate the anti-environmental and anti-humanitarian interests of JP Morgan Chase." Students also planned to throw a protest dance party April 14 on the Quad, according to the Daily Orange, the school's student newspaper.

The students were careful to note that they were protesting the financial industry rather than trying to personally attack Dimon.

"A lot of members of my graduating class aren't going to be able to afford to graduate because of the industry Mr. Dimon represents," said Amelia Pernell, a senior at Syracuse's Newhouse School of Public Communications and one of the authors of the petition.

Dimon's name was on a list of candidate speakers compiled by students, and he was chosen because of his rare, extensive experience with a "major global challenge," said University Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

The University won't rescind Dimon's invitation, said Kevin Quinn, the University's senior vice president for public affairs.

"We're aware of the student concerns, but Jamie Dimon is our commencement speaker," he said.

The protest group is planning for more direct action to raise campus and national awareness of their concerns. Their ideas include finding a different speaker who would not be as polarizing, and holding a vigil in which students walk toward the administration building, snapping wooden pencils and dropping them on the ground.

“We want to have a vigil for everyone who had to drop out and everyone across America who is suffering from what JPMorgan represents,” said petition co-writer Adrienne Garcia.

“When we feel wronged," said group member and senior journalism and geography major Ashley Owen, "we have the idea that we can raise up.”

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See the petition here