After students and faculty at Georgetown successfully campaigned to cancel commencement speaker Morton Schapiro over his support for Israel, there is a similar movement to cancel NYU Professor and author Jonathan Haidt as the graduation speaker at New York University. Haidt is being targeted for his opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and, ironically, his opposition to cancel culture.
Haidt is the author of The Anxious Generation and The Coddling of the American Mind. He has written extensively against the culture of orthodoxy and viewpoint intolerance in higher education.
He is also the cofounder of the online Heterodox Academy, a nonprofit “dedicated to defending and modeling the norms of open inquiry and constructive disagreement.”
In a May 6 column, senior Mehr Kotval described Haidt as “an anti-woke author who has consistently patronized student activists” and called his selection as commencement speaker a “last parting gift of disrespect” from NYU.
The Student Government Association condemned the choice and, in a May 5 open letter, called his “deeply unsettling” selection unacceptable, accusing him of “making homophobic remarks in a class and public misconceptions about transgender identity.”
What is most striking about these complaints is that they captured perfectly the sense of orthodoxy in higher education, the very thing that Haidt and some of us have been addressing in our writings.
The fact that he is considered “anti-woke” and holds divergent views is considered intolerable at a university that has largely purged conservative, libertarian, and contrarian views from its faculty.
There is, of course, no problem with speakers holding far-left viewpoints. Likewise, the warm reception given to Justice Sonia Sotomayor has not been extended to other potential justices on the Supreme Court, such as Justice Clarence Thomas.
As I wrote earlier, this year’s commencement speakers list continues to reflect the same universal preference for Democratic political figures and liberal figures. Indeed, this year, schools seem to be doubling down with figures ranging from Nancy Pelosi (Notre Dame de Namur University) to Jamie Raskin (American University and Goucher College) to candidates like James Talarico (Paul Quinn College). There is no subtlety in their selection or their messages. Pelosi slammed the GOP and Trump while Talarico gave effectively a stump speech on fighting the billionaires.
The strained rationalization for the cancel campaign was illustrated in the quote from Grayson Stevenson, the outgoing sophomore class president at N.Y.U., who said, “I don’t think that students saying that the speaker doesn’t represent our values is the same thing as students being incapable of hearing opposing viewpoints. Those are two very different things.”
No, it says you should not have to listen to “opposing viewpoints.” You are physically capable of hearing them, but you have been taught throughout your education that you should not be subjected to views that they disagree with or find triggering.
I would expect that, given his long fight for intellectual diversity, Haidt will not prove as easy to get to self-cancel. Often, speakers targeted in these campaigns do not want to risk the embarrassing protests or interruptions during a speech.
The campaign, however, has likely succeeded as a warning to other administrators that they need to select speakers who run from the left to the far left, or face such complications or confrontations.
Haidt, who describes himself as “a non-partisan centrist,” has written about the very sentiments expressed in the campaign against him at NYU. He is a critic of Herbert Marcuse, who called for a new type of “liberating” tolerance which is achieved through suppressing non-progressive voices.
He should give this commencement speech and start with his prior views on the scourge of viewpoint intolerance in higher education:
“Truth is a process, not just an end-state. The Righteous Mind was about the obstacles to that process, such as confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, tribalism, and the worship of sacred values. Given the many ways that our moral psychology warps our reasoning, it’s a wonder we’ve gotten as far as we have, as a species. That’s what’s so brilliant about science: it is a way of putting people together so that they challenge each other and cancel out each others’ confirmation biases and tribal commitments. The truth emerges from the interaction of flawed individuals.”
I once had a mentally ill client who wanted to be released from the psychiatric institution where he had been confined many years. During his hearing, the institution psychiatrist testified that when my client was confronted with information he disagreed with or was contrary to his position, he would react explosively, deny responsibility and cast blame on others. As soon as he heard that testimony, my client slammed his hand on the table and yelled “That’s not true! He’s lying!” I now realize he could have been a student at NYU.
I would like to know the backstory of how NYU chose Johnathon Haidt. And why that choice is seen by the students as “final” disrespect. What was the disrespect already in their learning diet at NYU? Isn’t NYU seen as liberal? Beyond that, I would suggest that using the Indispensable Right is best done mindful of the plane of time. That lets us see what happened before the 100 year lifespans we have. That sobers us against a fast food convenience throw away habit of thinking. Especially in expecting everything on the plane of time to obey our elections cycle. The plane of time is on the face of of what the Founders built. “In Oder to form a more perfect Union”. The word “more” is directly powered by the Indispensable Right.
The University administrators have been afraid since the late sixties. At Penn, in 1968-1970 the administrators were totally unresponsive to the middle of the road students who were tired of the insanity and disruption of the anti-war students. Administrators see the students as their customers and feel the need to placate them instead of setting standards of decorum and discourse that must be followed.
Your last sentence is the perfect reply to students. All we can hope for is these students to “grow up” and realize their views in late teens and early 20s are short lived.
Whenever I read about how difficult the job market and dating scene are for recent college grads I remember stories like this and smile.
Haidt’s name is so often associated with ethics and ethical for those who don’t want him to speak.. Not a surprise as they lack a scintilla of it.
I feel somewhat fortunate that both my daughters finished their formal education prior to the insanity that now exists in academia. My older daughter completed her undergraduate degree at a left-wing college in Massachusetts (Amherst) so by the time she finished college she was already converted to “we are not going to discuss that” attitude. This was cemented when she finished her masters at NYU. My other, younger daughter completed her undergraduate ina university in Denver (Regis) before insanity totally captured Colorado in its grips. She completed her graduate degree in a local Midwest university (Maryville) and she has remained totally a-political. While both completed formal education before total insanity struck, one of them was dondemned to the liberal bias thy the time she finished her Bachelor degree meaning a good portion of her psyche is calm. My other daughter was apparently not exposed to such idiocy. No young, aspiring student should ever be subject to this type of thining or, more properly lack of it. Shame on our universities and colleges.
The good news is that graduation speakers and what they have to say are like last month’s weather forecast. I graduated four time from college and grad schools, the last time being 2007 for a PhD degree. You could offer me a million dollars and I wouldn’t be able to tell you who any of my graduation speakers were. Moreover, not only have I forgotten who they were, I’ve forgotten what they said. The world is changed and remembered for actions, not words. Or, as the Beatles Paul McCartney put it in Elenor Rigby, verse 2, “Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear, no one comes near….”
I wrote NYU out of my alumni giving years ago. Perhaps the only remedy for this insanity is to vote with one’s feet and one’s wallet. An an organization which could provide college advisors, and parents with evaluation of schools who support policies such as NYU’s would be valuable.
I’m sure they miss that annual $1.
Democrats need to ask local voters what their priorities are, instead of a top-down strategy where a political party plays Nanny State parenting the local voters. That’s why they keep losing elections.
Haidt rightly describes the eternally aggrieved ones as “coddled.” And right on cue:
As they stomp their feet: Cancel him. His ideas are “deeply disturbing.”
It’s impossible to be in this world and coddled. This is a hard world of depraved indifference to human life. Imo
It is surprising that NYU invited him. That does seem like a step in the right direction.
The problem is that the truism “it won’t be like this in the real world” is becoming untrue. Now, these same delicate flowers can just run to a like-minded fascist in the HR department should their sensitivities be assaulted in the workplace.
Anonymous, you make a great point. For years I, and many others, have been saying that the grads will get a huge wake-up call in the workplace, but they are taking over the business world now and it doesn’t look good for our future. See Spain and Europe. It is over.
Did you go to college? Where and when?
Oh please. . .grow up.
This seems to be changing – DEI is dying inside the corporate world.
Why ?
Because it diminishes productivity.
Frankly before DEI – even HR departments often caused more harm than good.
People need to work out their problkems without referees in the real world.
In my family business we had a rule.
The first time – the supervisor is always right. Fire the worker
The 2nd – it is time to be suspect something.
The 3rd time – fire the supervisor.
Those on the right often claim that what we want is a meritocracy – those on the left often Fear that we will have a meritocracy.
In the real world that is an Aspiration. The Goal is to solve problems – to accomplish things, to preoduce some result.
As best as possible in the time available with the resources on hand.
No one actually hires the best applicant from 100 applications.
You hire the person that appears best after spending a minimal amount of time reviewing applicants.
In the real world – to the extent employers listen to your problems – it is because they hope that will get you back to work.
But what matters is how productive you are and how much of a burden you are on others.
Further that is NOT merely a guide for individual employers – that is precisely how we raise standard of living.
You want a better life – then as a nation as a company, as individuals we must produce more that humans value with less human effort.
This seems to be changing – DEI is dying inside the corporate world. … based on what? You’re not a corporate analyst at a investment bank, that’s obvious. Just a low brow consumer of right-wing propaganda and spews it as personal intellectual insight.
Might I suggest a walk in the park to relieve your frustrations?
Which US companies are pulling back on diversity initiatives?
https://apnews.com/article/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-companies-lawsuits-2193ef0a864db968e6934f971f78e8f2
Corporate America’s retreat from DEI has eliminated thousands of jobs
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/27/nx-s1-5307319/dei-jobs-trump
You are just a low brow, uninformed, idiot. John Say’s personal intellectual insight is based on facts.
Yes. DEI is dying. It brought nothing to the workplace of value. Nothing added to the bottom line. It was a waste of time and money. And all those with degrees in DEI are now pursuing their careers as baristas.
Good info. Hold their feet to the fire. Thanks, Upstate!
The question I would ask “Is the removal of this speaker truly the desire of the majority of the students at NYU”? We hear all the screaming and posturing from the usual suspects about non left speakers, but is that the majority view. In demonstrations against non left speakers I have noted that most of the time they are a small but very noisy clique.
I would suggest that maybe NYU require a vote (university ID required) by all students to truly assess what the view of the entire student body is about the speakers they are considering.
Even in the 1960’s and the demonstrations against the Viet Nam war, the demonstrators were clearly a minority of the students body if they even had a demonstration at all. It did, of course, vary from college to college. There were the thugs and rowdies of the SDS and their hangers-on but they were still a small number but extremely loud.
It’s like the No Kings protests, reportedly 8 million showed up but what does that mean? In this day of paid protestors what were the true demonstrators and what were paid off demonstrators. What is 8 million compared to 152 million voters in the last election or 340,000,000 people in the US.
Maybe the universities should ask all the students and not just the loud ones. You don’t learn anything while talking or screaming but you can learn a great deal by listening.
Ask all…? Why? Its defeats their purpose. Universities are not democratic institutions.
Do you think NYU students chose it because they just want to drink beer and get laid. Kids are not as stupid as you think. They chose NYU for a reason… its politics!
If I may ask, what business is it of yours what they do with lives? Your generation is the cause of the political disruption in this country nowadays. You and your ilk sent your kids to schools for the prestige effect, not an education. As parents you failed them and yourself and now you whine that they are the problem. You and your kind have to blame yourselves.
Another participation trophy winner with the boringly predictable boomer insults and boringly predictable victimhood mentality.
Did your parents “fail” you, thus the global projection?
GEB,
That sounds like democracy. As well all know as we have seen, democracy is not what leftists want. They want mobocracy.
I would find it interesting to see if Haidt is the speaker, and if during his speech he gets rounds of applause from not just the graduates but those in the audience as well. Could be quite telling if they can and do drown out those who oppose him as the speaker.
Geb, it’s the noisy 20%. The greater problem are faculties, admins and boards. 80% of pupils would vote yes to Haidt if the vote were secret. Imo
NYU Students cancelling their future you mean!
The most suicidal aspect of university behavior is accepting too many foreign students to get full tuition. The long-term effect is the degredation of American citizen workforce and the fallacious idea that foreign students and workers are required to make up for American shortcomings.
We need to cancel 99% of foreign student visas. Next, the H1-Bs, more numerous than exceptional.
The NYU administration should keep the speaker, use numerous security to maintain order and decorum, and try to get their pampered, narcissistic, retarded development graduates to listen to an opposing viewpoint. It would at least be an opportunity for the idjits to grow up a bit.
Universities accept full tuition-paying foreign students in order to continue to pay the exorbitant salaries paid to leftist ideologue professors who would otherwise be unemployable if they were required to find a productive job in society outside of academia. It is the salaries of these overpaid professors that saddles many current college graduates with oppressive debt that they will be unable to repay for much of their postgraduate life, if ever. What is amazing to me is that these social justice warrior students do not see that they are being played as economically useful idiots in order to finance the lifestyles of their liberal professors. I guess that’s the desired result of indoctrinating students rather than teaching them to think and reason.
Vincente,
Indeed, US higher education pays the highest salaries in the world. Not only to professors, though, but even more so to administrators: deans, presidents, provosts, associates and assistant deans and provosts, diversity managers, etc. Since universities receive millions in grants and subsidies, the taxpayer is on the hook in addition to the tuition paying students. Tuition is so high because of growing demand triggered by the government giving student loans.
Universities accept full tuition-paying foreign students in order to continue to pay the exorbitant salaries paid to leftist ideologue professors … It’s obvious you know nothing about the national university system apart from what your political propaganda sources feed you, because your info is peppered with their sound bites.
Full tuition … its a business model, just as US tech companies use the H1-B etc… foreigners are mostly apolitical and knowledgeable, high work ethic.
Nobody does Fascism like the left does Fascism. The far left has always been and always will be Fascists. And leftwing teachers successfully tied Fascism to the right, as if a committed Socialist like Hitler was right wing.
Commit suicide please.
“Commit suicide please” says our resident parasitic juvenile delinquent. This person epitomizes the point being made about our schools today. Uneducated, close-minded, selfish, unable to think critically and just a sad excuse for what was once debatable discussions.
Writing about yourself I see. Again. Rather telling that you always attack anons all… day.. long… weeks, months long. Says a lot about your mindset.
Your comments are not intellectual gems, rather coarse and childish and always missing the point.
All that rage … all day long.
MP
What is wrong for criticising the stupid behavior of someone who thinks “Commit suicide please.”
Is a contribution to dialog ?
Again, you miss the obvious point. We’ve all seen his maniacal verbal attacks on all anons?
Question: What is wrong in criticizing the stupid behavior of hullbobby? You do it too.
HullBobby is only pointing out the fact the annony is calling for someone to inflect self harm to the point of death. That would be a uncivil and if anything evil line of thought among those of us who are civil.
It’s murder. Each person is a life.
HullBobby,
Well said.
Most of the annonys do reflect the product of higher education nowadays.
Not an argument.
Please don’t. There are those who love you.
I DEMAND and END to ALL Federal Aid and Loan backing for colleges
Let them FUND THEMSELVES!
You demand? You silly clown.
You have a right to demand that the money government has taken from you by force is not wasted.
That is how the american revolution started.
Jonathan Haidt wrote, “The truth emerges from the interaction of flawed individuals.”
Interesting, sounds like the organizing principle of the U.S. Constitution: assume humans are naturally flawed and balance them so that the flaws cancel out. Worked for 250 years. Soviet communism lasted only 70 years. Chinese communism lasted even less time, now that the CCP is basically a nationalist and quasi-capitalist party (kind of sounds like fascism, no?).
Now our illustrious eggheads want to ditch the Constitution with their sophomore-bull-session version of social justice. They are the bleeding edge of mouse utopia. Thanks to these idiot savants, I fear the world is heading back to fascism, via faux communism. We’ll have an all-powerful Democrat Party presiding over an oligarchy presiding over a slave class of Malthusian labor, just like in China: fascism with a communist face.
I fear the world is heading back to fascism????
lol yes students expressing their powerless frustration over a commencement speaker has NEVER been done before and is DEFINITELY a sign of fascism. the anti-woke reactionary centrists care more about students having opinions than an administration withholding funding from colleges until they ideologically toe the line. THAT can’t be cancel culture. you guys are the true snowflakes.
In what world is it that you think toddlers know what is best for themselves ?
The left has F’d up their education for almost two decades left them whiny sniveling idiots unable to contribute anything, and ruined their future.
Should we be pi$$ing on students who were never pushed to grow up ? No.
We should be pi$$ing on those like you who prevented them from growing up,
EVERYTHING the left claims is a RIGHT is a privilege to be EARNED – by producing what others value.
It is precisely those who want to silence Haidt who most need to listen to him.
Haidt BTW is NOT some right wing extremist – he is just another liberal red pilled by reality and the left.
If anything he is more liberal than Turley.
Defunding publicly funded institutions that support jihadist terrorism, insult the Constitution, and abuse conservative faculty and students is not fascism. It’s karma. What goes around, comes around. You started and you’ll wish you hadn’t.
Diogenes,
“They are the bleeding edge of mouse utopia.”
Great line!
While they could be dangerous, most of Gen Z cannot function with out their parents.
And so the entire US college and university system continues to commit slow suicide. With all due respect to Professor Turley and his understandable preoccupation with the institutes essential to his career as an educator, this has become the status quo. It is no longer news, in any way novel, or imo even worthy of column space. YMMV.
Suicide? Hardly. Know of any university or college that has committed death by suicide? None in fact.
They are thriving in fact.
Not sure where “suicide” was mentioned or in which context, but you may be interested in learning about the
concept of “Suicidal Empathy” by Saad Gad.
Suicide mentioned? Read I Don Wannutono comment.
ATS – no they are not thriving.
Aside from the ideological issues they have declining number of students do to demographics.
Beyond that students are less and less able to contribute anything of value after gfraduating and are less and less able to repay their student debt.
More and more young adults are looking at alternatives to 4 yr liberal arts colleges.
More and more employers are finding they have toi provide additional training to graduates after they hire them.
The bottom line is that for all you think you gop to college for – unless you graduate able to produce more that others value then you were when you went in – you have failed and you are eroding your own and everyone else’s standard of living.
A Man Said to the Universe
By Stephen Crane
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. ”
Adam Smith
The laws of nature are immutable – no amount of woke indoctrination will change the FACT that if you want something from others you must produce something they value to exchange for it.
“More and more employers are finding they have toi provide additional training to graduates after they hire them.”
— John Say
Bosses are firing Gen Z workers in record time: ‘Yeah, checks out’
“Six in ten employers had already fired some college graduates they had recruited earlier in the year, a survey conducted by Intelligent.com found.
One in seven the employers said they also might not hire fresh college grads next year after finding a raft of problems with young workers.
Business leaders listed concerns in areas such as communications skills and professionalism that made them wary of hiring Gen Z.”
https://www.dailymail.com/yourmoney/consumer/article-13886905/bosses-firing-gen-z-workers-record-time.html
Herbert Marcuse’s 1965 essay on the ‘repressive tolerance’ of Western Civilization was the seminal work giving birth to leftist PC cancel culture, advocating in effect for neoMarxist ‘repressive intolerance’. Which is exactly what the calls for Haidt’s cancellation are.
“Marxism – the opium of the intellectuals” – Raymond Aron.
The problem is with writers. All they want to do is use their imagination and write about their fantasies. It’s the basis for most Science fiction. it’s easy for them to imagine a utopia to write about. But few writers like to work so, commies dominate the field of fantasy (see hollywood). Always selling you on their imagined worlds like it’s a franchise to profit off of.
hey no offense, this is one of the dumbest sentiments i’ve ever read.
That might be because you don’t read a lot of smart things.