Disinvitation Pushback

I can't go but will send in a small donation.

Non-progressive viewpoints are unwelcome on many American campuses. Last year "women of color" Hirsi Ali and Condoleeza Rice found that political ideology trumped substantive achievements despite their membership in historically victimized groups.

Invitations to speak were greeted with protest, and eventually Ms. Ali was "disinvited" and Dr. Rice voluntarily withdrew from Brandeis and Rutgers commencement ceremonies, respectively.

Disinvitation season is now a regular rite of spring. (BTW, not all disinvitations are the result of left-wing complaints; sometimes the shoe is on the other foot, as this list shows.)

The William Buckley Program at Yale has organized a little pushback with the First Annual Disinvitation Dinner. The speaker is conservative commentator George Will, who was disinvited from speaking at Scripps College over a column he wrote about how colleges are handling accusations of sexual assault.

Note: Scripps, one of the Claremont Colleges, has resolutely been women-only. Perhaps if it had diversified the student population, like Claremont Men's College did in 1976 when it became the co-ed Claremont-McKenna, Scripps would be more receptive to other ideas.