Dive Brief:

• “Disinvitations” of campus speakers, frequently the result of student attempts to thwart scheduled appearances, have risen dramatically over the last 15 years, according to a new report.
• The report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which fights censorship on campus, shows that disinvited speakers are much more likely to have conservative viewpoints, as perceived by faculty or students.
• Campus administrators and invited speakers are increasingly willing to give in to disinvitation demands, according to the report.

Dive Insight:

The FIRE report provides some data to support the anecdotal evidence that seems build every commencement season, which the report has labeled “disinvitation season.” The report analyzed 192 campus speaker disinvitation incidents since 2000, categorizing successful disinvitations into three categories: Formal disinvitations, speaker withdrawals in the face of protest, and “heckler’s vetoes” — incidents where a speaker is persistently disrupted or prevented from speaking during an event. Disinvitations peaked at 29 in 2013, the last year with complete figures. The speaker with the most disinvitation incidents: Former U.S. President George W. Bush, at seven.