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Student government leaders at New York University are demanding that administrators disinvite the 2026 commencement speaker, famed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, arguing the cancel culture critic is too divisive and controversial to platform.
Haidt, a business professor at NYU, is an outspoken critic of radical leftism in higher education.
He is a widely respected expert on social media’s effects on adolescent mental health and the author of two best-selling books on fragility among today’s young people, “The Coddling of the American Mind” and “The Anxious Generation.”
But NYU’s Executive Committee of the Student Government Assembly called on campus leaders in a recent memo to disinvite Haidt, saying his selection has created feelings of “disappointment, disgust, unenthusiasm, defeat, and embarrassment” among the student body.
The letter cites his criticisms of diversity, equity and inclusion, and also alleges he made “homophobic remarks” regarding transgenderism in a 2014 lecture.
“In a world marked by sustained attacks on higher education and the global unraveling of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has only deepened inequities, Professor Haidt is not the appropriate individual to address the Class of 2026,” the letter states.
The student leaders cited examples of previous commencement speakers Taylor Swift, David Boies, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor as those who upheld NYU’s inclusive values.
New York Times reporters Jeremy Peters and Matthew Haag described the irony of the backlash at NYU in a May 13 article, arguing it could have been an example in one of his books.
“A small group of students tries to cancel an outspoken critic of cancel culture, who says that American education has been woefully deficient when it comes to exposing young people to perspectives different from their own,” they wrote.
But there are defenders of Haidt. NYU Hannah Swartz, a graduating senior who studied psychology, told the New York Times that he helped her start up a club to help bring students together.
“It’s not that he’s blaming our generation for the way we are,” she told the newspaper. “He’s trying to empower us with the skills to go out in the world.”
Princeton University politics Professor Robert P. George also chimed in, stating on X there is “simply no one better qualified to speak at a university’s commencement in 2026” than Haidt, as “no one has more carefully analyzed the problems in American education” than him. He concluded that the protests against Haidt were “idiotic.”
Haidt is slated to speak at NYU’s all-university commencement on Thursday, May 14, at Yankee Stadium.
MORE: Famed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt spells out three bad ideas to resist in college
