Dive Brief:
- Michigan State University officials are sticking with their choice of conservative columnist George Will as a commencement speaker this month, in spite of opposition by some students because of his writing about the campus sexual assault issue.
- In a June 6 column, Will wrote about the “supposed campus epidemic of rape” and how colleges’ attempts at sexual assault prevention have “made victimhood a coveted status.”
- Some students are planning protests if Will appears at the university’s commencement and some are circulating petitions calling for him to be disinvited, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Dive Insight:
Campus presidents should borrow from Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon when they inevitably come under fire for their own commencement speaker choices. In an online statement, Simon said that “great universities are committed to serving the public good by creating space for discourse and exchange of ideas, though that exchange may be uncomfortable and will sometimes challenge values and beliefs.” She also said that having Will speak at the commencement doesn’t mean that the university agrees with him, or wants to cause distress to sexual assault survivors. Will was invited before his controversial column was published. Michigan State has also invited liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to speak at the commencement.
