In October 2015, an email sent by Yale Professor Erika Christakis sparked protests among Yale Students, who called for Erika and her husband Nicholas to resign from their roles as “faculty-in-residence” at the Silliman dormitory on Yale’s campus.
In February 2015, Professor Laura Kipnis published an article criticizing Northwestern University’s policy against sexual relationships between professors and students and claiming that college campuses had a growing climate of “sexual paranoia.” In response, Northwestern students called for an apology and filed Title IX complaints against her. Northwestern ultimately found Kipnis innocent of wrongdoing.
The University of Oklahoma expelled two students after a video surfaced showing them singing a racist chant on the way to a fraternity event.
Police outrage over invited Kean University graduation speaker Common led the school to retract the rapper’s invitation to speak at the ceremony. The lyrical content of Common’s “Song for Assata” was cause for the backlash, as New Jersey state police believe the song’s content portrays former Black Panther party member Assata Shakur, convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper, in a sympathetic light.
Violent protests erupted at the University of California Berkeley in anticipation of a speech to be delivered by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on campus. The protests caused the University to cancel Yiannopoulos’ speech at the last minute out of a concern for public safety.
Protestors at Claremont McKenna College blocked the door to a room on campus where Heather Mac Donald was supposed to speak about criminal justice reform. The students cited Mac Donald’s controversial views on criminal justice reform and the Black Lives Matter Movement, which they perceived as racist.
Christine Lagarde, then the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), withdrew from giving the commencement address at Smith College after students protested her scheduled appearance. The students cited their beliefs that the IMF, in providing funds to developing nations, often imposes unfair funding conditions that favor western, developed nations.
Richard Spencer’s speech at the Phillips Center on the University of Florida campus caused protests, leading the Governor to declare a state of emergency. The University’s President decried Spencer’s message as “hate speech,” but noted that the University was powerless to prevent Spencer’s engagement at the Phillips Center.
Grand Canyon University cancelled a lecture that Ben Shapiro was scheduled to deliver on campus. After students and conservative figures criticized the decision, the University reversed course and re-invited Shapiro.
In July 2016, a petition to cancel journalist Kathleen Parker’s scheduled fall lecture circulated at Elon University. The petitioners’ grievances centered on a book Parker wrote in 2008, which they say blamed victims of rape for the tragedies that befell them. Parker was not ultimately removed from the schedule, and she delivered her lecture in October of 2016.
