Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    AI and Microcredentials
Sign In
Students

Should Campus Leaders Ever Disinvite a Controversial Speaker?

By Courtney Kueppers March 15, 2016
The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is on a speaking tour that seeks to “invade safe spaces,” on campus and off, regardless of protests. Amid increased student activism, college officials have been forced to grapple with whether — and for what reasons — they should cancel contentious speeches.
The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is on a speaking tour that seeks to “invade safe spaces,” on campus and off, regardless of protests. Amid increased student activism, college officials have been forced to grapple with whether — and for what reasons — they should cancel contentious speeches.Simon and Schuster

About one year, almost to the day, after Christina H. Paxson was inaugurated as the 19th president of Brown University, the institution became the latest site in a string of battles on campuses nationwide that boiled down to two questions: Should a college disinvite a controversial speaker, and if so, when?

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is on a speaking tour that seeks to “invade safe spaces,” on campus and off, regardless of protests. Amid increased student activism, college officials have been forced to grapple with whether — and for what reasons — they should cancel contentious speeches.
The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is on a speaking tour that seeks to “invade safe spaces,” on campus and off, regardless of protests. Amid increased student activism, college officials have been forced to grapple with whether — and for what reasons — they should cancel contentious speeches.Simon and Schuster

About one year, almost to the day, after Christina H. Paxson was inaugurated as the 19th president of Brown University, the institution became the latest site in a string of battles on campuses nationwide that boiled down to two questions: Should a college disinvite a controversial speaker, and if so, when?

At Brown in the fall of 2013, the speaker was the commissioner of the New York Police Department, Raymond W. Kelly, who oversaw its controversial “stop and frisk” policy, which was widely viewed as racial profiling. Students pushed for Mr. Kelly to be disinvited, but when the university and its relatively new leader refused to do so, shouting protesters disrupted the event, to the point it had to be canceled.

Now, more than two years later, Ms. Paxson stands by the decision to not cancel Mr. Kelly’s lecture beforehand. Out of the headline-making incident, she says, came a campuswide teaching moment.

“These controversial talks can really move students forward in how they think about issues,” Ms. Paxson says. “You can’t really learn and grow if you can’t hear things you don’t agree with.”

But campus climates have changed. Colleges nowadays are seeing increased student activism, while also being pressured to respect the importance of free speech in higher education. At the intersection of those forces is the controversial speaker.

A Failed Cancellation

There are few more controversial speakers in the United States today than Donald J. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, who planned to speak at a rally last Friday night at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. Trump had not been invited to speak on the campus; rather, his campaign had rented out the UIC Pavilion, a large arena at the university.

But the prospect that Mr. Trump, whose campaign has featured rhetoric attacking immigrants, Muslims, and other minority groups, would speak at Illinois-Chicago drew sharp criticism across the diverse campus, which has large black and Latino enrollments. University officials allowed the rally to proceed, but protesters showed up in large numbers and clashes between them and Trump supporters led the Trump organization to cancel the event before the candidate could speak.

Since university officials were not involved in canceling the rally, they have not been criticized for violating Mr. Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech. But last month alone, a couple of speaker controversies on campuses from southern California to northern Massachusetts ignited a backlash. When such controversies bubble up, they can trigger tough choices for administrators that are likely to result in close scrutiny, regardless of their decision.

You can’t really learn and grow if you can’t hear things you don’t agree with.

No leader has had to grapple with the issue more prominently than the president of California State University at Los Angeles, William A. Covino. The campus grabbed nationwide attention late last month, when Mr. Covino announced, after pushback from people on the campus, that the conservative commentator Ben Shapiro would not be allowed to speak at an event organized by the university’s Young America’s Foundation chapter, a conservative student group.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr. Covino proposed that Mr. Shapiro, who is on a speaking tour, postpone his appearance and return to the campus at a later date as part of a diverse panel of speakers. In the heated back and forth, Mr. Shapiro vowed repeatedly to show up, with or without university approval, and eventually Mr. Covino conceded, stating just hours before the planned speech that “if Mr. Shapiro does appear, the university will allow him to speak.” The speech went ahead as planned.

But the divide between Shapiro supporters inside a campus auditorium and protesters out front wasn’t the end for Mr. Covino. Earlier this month the student government called for his resignation, citing “mismanagement and safety concerns” tied to the Shapiro episode, according to the campus newspaper.

Mr. Covino’s initial decision to cancel Mr. Shapiro’s appearance “was made in the interest of safety and security,” he said in a written statement, which cited “a number of emails and social-media posts that caused concern for the campus community” as his reason for disinviting the speaker.

‘The Best Interest’ of Students

Safety concerns are among the most prominent reasons campus leaders rescind speaker invitations. But the rationale can be more complicated.

ADVERTISEMENT

Just days before Mr. Covino’s original announcement, the president of Williams College, Adam F. Falk, banned the conservative writer John Derbyshire from speaking on the institution’s campus, in Williamstown, Mass.

In a written statement explaining his decision to cancel the event, Mr. Falk said many of Mr. Derbyshire’s views “constitute hate speech, and we will not promote such speech on this campus.”

“We have said we wouldn’t cancel speakers or prevent the expression of views except in the most extreme circumstances,” the statement reads. “At times it’s our role as educators and administrators to step in and make decisions that are in the best interest of our students. This is one of those times.”

We try very hard to maintain a posture that says we are content-neutral.

In his tenure at the University of California at Irvine, Thomas A. Parham has found himself in the same position as Mr. Covino and Mr. Falk. As vice chancellor for student affairs, Mr. Parham says it is part of his job to contribute to co-curricular aspects of the student experience, which includes public lectures.

ADVERTISEMENT

“There is rarely a speaker that you can find that everyone is going to agree with,” he says. “What we try to do, however, is make people really aware that our goal in the administration is in fact to promote the free exchange of ideas, and we try very hard to maintain a posture that says we are content-neutral. We aren’t into screening or censoring speech; we’re into promoting free speech.”

The Irvine campus made headlines in 2010, when a group of students disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador at the time, Michael Oren. They were later ordered to perform community service and serve probation for their roles in the incident.

Mr. Parham says it’s important for administrators to not turn a blind eye to any group and to engage with students who may be upset about a speaker’s presence.

‘Part of Learning’

Stops remain on Mr. Shapiro’s speaking tour, in which he intends to “invade safe spaces” and organizers say the events will go on as planned. At the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he is scheduled to speak in early April, university officials say they are aware Mr. Shapiro has been invited but they feel strongly about following a policy that states, “expression of diverse points of view is of the highest importance.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Grant Strobl, chair of the campus’s chapter of the Young America’s Foundation, praised the university’s recent support for a variety of speakers, but said Mr. Shapiro would speak “no matter what.”

Margaret Dunning, managing partner at Widmeyer Communications, said that, should a situation arise when campus leaders have a legitimate reason to cancel an event, it is important that they communicate with the students who organized it before announcing their decision.

If cancellation is warranted, “then the organization should be brought into the process before it is announced — engage students about your decision,” she said.

Ms. Dunning said she worries about the ripple effects of what she describes as a recent rise in the number of campus speakers seen by students as controversial.

“What if advocates for women’s right to vote weren’t allowed on campus?” she said. “What if antislavery spokespeople weren’t allowed to go around and speak? This is a part of learning.”

A version of this article appeared in the March 25, 2016, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

Thorny Exchanges on Campus Can Hold Educational Value

More News

Photo illustration showing internal email text snippets over a photo of a University of Iowa campus quad
Red-state reticence
Facing Research Cuts, Officials at U. of Iowa Spoke of a ‘Limited Ability to Publicly Fight This’
Photo illustration showing Santa Ono seated, places small in the corner of a dark space
'Unrelentingly Sad'
Santa Ono Wanted a Presidency. He Became a Pariah.
Illustration of a rushing crowd carrying HSI letters
Seeking precedent
Funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional, Lawsuit Argues
Photo-based illustration of scissors cutting through paper that is a photo of an idyllic liberal arts college campus on one side and money on the other
Finance
Small Colleges Are Banding Together Against a Higher Endowment Tax. This Is Why.

From The Review

Football game between UCLA and Colorado University, at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo., Sept. 24, 2022.
The Review | Opinion
My University Values Football More Than Education
By Sigman Byrd
Photo- and type-based illustration depicting the acronym AAUP with the second A as the arrow of a compass and facing not north but southeast.
The Review | Essay
The Unraveling of the AAUP
By Matthew W. Finkin
Photo-based illustration of the Capitol building dome propped on a stick attached to a string, like a trap.
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Can’t Trust the Federal Government. What Now?
By Brian Rosenberg

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: a Global Leadership Perspective
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin