Dive Brief:

• International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde gave a week's notice of her withdrawal from speaking at the Smith College commencement.
• Lagarde says she didn't want protests against her and the IMF to detract from the women's college's graduation celebration.
• Critics of Lagarde's selection pointed to IMF policies that favored Western interests when providing economic aid to poor countries, and an online petition accused the IMF of “imperialist and patriarchal systems that oppress and abuse women worldwide.”

Dive Insight:

This is the third high-profile speaker, all women, to bow out of a commencement address this year. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under George W. Bush, withdrew from Rutgers University’s commencement following anti-Bush-administration protests, and women’s rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali had her invitation revoked by Brandeis University due to protests over her anti-Islam statements. Ruth Simmons, former president of Smith College and Brown University, will serve as Smith’s fill-in speaker.