CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Harvard University commencement speech that offended some students with its use of the term "jihad" received a polite reception Thursday, with few protesters visible and a number of students giving a standing ovation.

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Zayed Yasin, selected as the student speaker for the ceremony, had originally entitled his speech "Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad," but dropped the second portion of the title after some students took exception and said the speech should explicitly condemn terrorist violence.

The content of the speech was not changed.

In Arabic, jihad means struggle, but is also a term for holy war. The speech focused on the meaning of jihad as struggle for personal growth and for wider peace and justice. It condemned Muslims and non-Muslims who have abused the word.

The word, he said, "has been corrupted and misinterpreted, both by those who do and do not claim to be Muslims, and we saw last fall, to our great national personal loss, the results of this corruption.

"Where is our struggle, our jihad?" Yasin said. "Whether on our way to an investment bank in New York or to Sierra Leone to work with orphans, Harvard graduates have a responsibility to leave their mark on the world."

During a rainy 351st Harvard commencement in Harvard Yard, only a couple of protesters were visible, and dozens in the audience gave Yasin a standing ovation, including an entire section of students.