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Don't Save The Date: NYT, WSJ, Fox, MSNBC, NPR Cover ‘Disinvitation Season'

‘Disinvitation Season'
Tyler Kingkade
By 

Senior Editor/Reporter, The Huffington Post

FILE - In this March 15, 2014 file photo, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gestures while speaking at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in Burlingame, Calif. University of Minnesota faculty and student activists are pressuring the school to rescind its invitation to Rice to speak at the Twin Cities campus April 17 as part of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs? lecture series. Math professor William Messing has introduced a resolution to be considered by the University Senate next week which asks that the Rice speech be canceled because of her role in the wartime policies of the Bush administration.(AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
FILE - In this March 15, 2014 file photo, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gestures while speaking at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in Burlingame, Calif. University of Minnesota faculty and student activists are pressuring the school to rescind its invitation to Rice to speak at the Twin Cities campus April 17 as part of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs? lecture series. Math professor William Messing has introduced a resolution to be considered by the University Senate next week which asks that the Rice speech be canceled because of her role in the wartime policies of the Bush administration.(AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

The Class of 2014 is preparing for graduation by buying their caps and gowns—but let’s hope they weren’t counting on having a speaker for the ceremony. The years-long, snowballing trend of protests against commencement speakers, which FIRE has termed “disinvitation season,” is getting major attention this year from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR, among many other outlets.

In the past few days, FIRE President Greg Lukianoff has appeared on Fox News and NPR to discuss the growing trend of students clamoring for the removal and silencing of famous figures like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Condoleezza Rice, and Dustin Lance Black.

And the news keeps on coming. Over the weekend, Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, stepped down as Smith College’s commencement speaker after nearly 500 people signed a petition demanding she be “reconsidered” as a speaker, claiming her work “directly contributes to many of the systems that we are taught to fight against.” FIRE’s Robert Shibley wrote about Lagarde’s withdrawal and Smith President Kathleen McCartney’s disapproval of students’ demands.

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