Free speech: Under pressure commencement speakers drop out

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau chose not speak at the Haverford College graduation after students and faculty demanded an apology for the campus police beating of Occupy Wall Street protestors in 2011. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and International Money Fund’s Christine Lagarde also withdrew from speaking engagements faced with threats of demonstrations. (Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2014, by Matt Pearce)

Free speech advocates are concerned about the trend. Greg Lukianoff of the Foundation for Individual Right in Education places the blame on universities who don’t do enough to encourage tolerance and the values of curiosity, humility and fair play. He says the practice of “disinvitation” could produce bland speakers at the cost of intellectual ferment. (Time, May 14, 2014)