Staff Reports
New York University just picked Professor Jonathan Haidt to give its all‑university commencement address at Yankee Stadium — and the campus erupted. Student leaders demanded the school disinvite him. Activist groups cheered the push. NYU went ahead anyway, and some graduates booed and walked out while Haidt spoke. The whole episode tells us more about modern campus life than the ceremony ever could.
What happened at NYU?
NYU announced Professor Jonathan Haidt as the commencement speaker and an honorary‑degree recipient. The Student Government Assembly’s Executive Committee called the choice “deeply unsettling,” criticizing what it called “disturbing rhetoric” around antiracism and DEI. Online petitions and activist groups joined the chorus. NYU administrators defended the pick, praising Haidt’s scholarship and public work. Still, when he walked on stage at Yankee Stadium, there were audible boos and a small number of graduates left the ceremony.
Why students objected — and why that’s ironic
The objections center on Haidt’s research and public warnings about social media, smartphones, and mental health — and on his critiques of some campus DEI practices. He has argued for phone‑free zones and warned that social media helps fuel anxiety and depression among teens. The irony is delicious: students say he’s “too divisive” to platform, even though he is not a conservative firebrand but a liberal who refuses to march in lockstep with woke orthodoxy. Shutting down someone for being inconvenient is, in a single dramatic move, both the complaint and the crime.
Why this matters for free speech and commencement
Commencement is supposed to be a moment of hard truths, not a safe space curated to avoid discomfort. If universities pick speakers solely to confirm the audience’s views, they turn graduation into a mirror, not a milestone. The boos and walkouts at NYU show a campus that prefers purity over pluralism. That is bad for students, bad for debate, and bad for intellectual growth. Campus protests are a long American tradition, but when protest is used to stop a voice from being heard, it becomes cancel culture, plain and simple.
The simple test NYU and other schools should face
Universities can either prepare students to face different ideas, or they can shield them so the next disagreement causes panic. NYU chose the former by inviting Professor Jonathan Haidt and standing by the decision. That choice deserves praise. If college is to mean anything, it must teach resilience and the art of argument — not the art of denunciation. Parents, alumni and educators should demand that schools pick speakers who challenge graduates, not just flatter them. After all, real life won’t give diplomas to those who are easily offended.
