NYU law school cancels speech about cancel culture at elite law schools

Legal scholar Ilya Shapiro will not be allowed to give his speech about cancel culture and wokeness at elite law schools after New York University’s law school refused to facilitate a room and security for the event.

Shapiro planned to discuss his book “Lawless: The Miseducation of American Elites,” which discusses various cancel culture incidents at American law schools, including his own.

However, NYU law school canceled the event, scheduled for October 7, due to security concerns. Oct. 7 is the two-year anniversary of when Hamas terrorists attacked innocent Israeli citizens. Shapiro is Jewish and supports Israel.

The Federalist Society organizers agreed to move the location of the event for security reasons, according to emails published by the Washington Free Beacon. However, the group could not change the date as Shapiro did not have other availability.

The administrator in charge, Penelope Fernandes, later backtracked on the event completely.

“But one week later, Fernandes told the students that they could not host Shapiro that day at all,” the Free Beacon reported. “Pressed for more details about the cancellation, another administrator, associate dean Megan McDermott, confirmed that security concerns were a major factor, writing in an email that the school’s security personnel would be strained that week.”

However, the Free Beacon notes the Federalist Society will be allowed to host another event that week, even though the right-leaning group had requested permission after scheduling Shapiro.

“After a review of the already great demands on resources and personnel (including but certainly not limited to security personnel) during the week of October 6-10, 2025, I personally made the decision that we could not host your event on campus during that week,” Megan McDermott told the students. “This is not a decision based on the proposed program or speaker but rather based on an obligation to provide enhanced security generally on campus during that week as well as resource commitments we have already made across multiple buildings for public and closed events during the same period.”

Shapiro noted the irony in a comment to the Free Beacon. “There could not be a more on-the-nose example of weak university officials in the face of a heckler’s veto than this farce,” Shapiro told the Free Beacon. “I’d be happy to give NYU’s dean a copy of my book so he can ‘do the work’ of learning how to be an effective and principled leader.”

NYU says it did not cancel the event, according to the Free Beacon.

A free speech expert with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression criticized the university giving in to the “heckler’s veto.”

“Doing the work for the would-be censors without even needing them to show up, NYU Law School’s reported decision to cancel the Federalist Society’s event with Ilya Shapiro is a textbook heckler’s veto,” Special Counsel for Campus Advocacy Robert Shibley told The College Fix via an emailed statement.

“Universities cannot selectively disfavor one speaker while approving other major events on the same day,” Shibley stated.

Shapiro once again faces cancelation

The legal scholar, now at the Manhattan Institute, is no stranger to law school cancel culture.

Shapiro planned to lead a constitutional studies center at Georgetown University beginning in Feb. 2022.

However, he resigned from the position following a lengthy investigation into a social media post he made criticizing President Joe Biden’s plan to appoint a Supreme Court justice on the basis of race and sex. While the university cleared him, it did so primarily on the basis that he had not officially started his job when he made the tweet, which drew backlash.

“Objectively best pick for Biden is Sri Srinivasan, who is solid prog & v smart,” Shapiro had tweeted, referring to Biden’s potential replacement for retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. “Even has identity politics benefit of being first Asian (Indian) American. But alas doesn’t fit into the latest intersectionality hierarchy so we’ll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors,” he wrote. The “lesser black woman” comment drew criticism. Shapiro himself said he could have worded the post better.

“Because Biden said he’s only consider[ing] black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term,” he also wrote.

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