We have been following universities as they cave to protester demands from elaborate settlement deals at Northwestern to the cancelation of commencement at Columbia and USC. Now both Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of Vermont have yielded to expected protests and rescinded invitations to United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Both schools admitted that they were worried about anti-Israel protests. Xavier President Dr. Reynold Verret sent out a letter explaining that “the vast majority of students want to be able to enjoy a commencement ceremony free of disruptions.”
So, once again, a university faced with a cancel campaign has canceled a speaker. Somehow Verret believes that that is a commendable position in yielding to those who would disrupt a commencement. What lesson does that teach these students?
It is the same lesson reinforced by these schools for years that students do not have to tolerate those with opposing views.
An earlier petition denounced the appearance of the U.N. ambassador as “the politicization of our commencement ceremony.”
Notably, it is only “politicized” because the faculty and students disagree with the policies of the Biden Administration. It would not be “politicized” if the schools did what many schools have done: only select liberal speakers and avoid anyone with libertarian or conservative views. In this case, even a liberal diplomat from a liberal administration could not meet the standard.
Universities would rather have speakers who write cringe-worthy commencements with sing-a-longs and bitcoin pitches while high on ayahuasca than a libertarian or republican figure.
For many, that is preferable to hearing from one of the world’s top diplomats at a time of global strife.
At George Washington University, there is no such problem. The university tends to invite far left speakers from Sen. Elizabeth Warren to this year’s Jen Psaki.
Conservative students are expected to be tolerant and not be disruptive. The idea that a Fox host or a conservative senator would be invited as a commencement speaker is unthinkable at most schools. Liberal students are protected from such traumatic exposures at graduation.
Indeed, Psaki will be warmly received as a host on MSNBC who recently stated that the Biden Administration did not go far enough in stopping the last batch of weapons to Israel. Psaki declared that weapons shipments should have been stopped to Israel earlier.
At Vermont, University President Suresh Garimella emphasized that the cancelation was ordered because he and the faculty had listened to their objections. He told students “I see and hear you.” He then matter-of-factly stated that the ambassador was no longer invited while stressing that the students “deserve a weekend of ceremony and celebration befitting their accomplishment.”
What is “befitting” that education is one last cancelation of a speaker holding opposing views.
