FEATURED
ANALYSIS: Another busy school year for cancel culture
Syracuse University’s lacrosse team pulled its “Burn the Boats” shirts after a complaint the term glorifies Indigenous genocide.” USC canceled a gubernatorial debate because it featured too many white candidates. Franklin & Marshall College is ditching Ben Franklin for a more “gender-neutral” mascot.
These are just three examples among 161 cancel culture incidents chronicled during the 2025-26 school year by The College Fix’s Campus Cancel Culture Database.
The 173 cases represent incidents from July 2025 through June 30 of this year. There were 79 attempted cancellations and 93 successful ones.
One incident includes when keffiyeh-masked activists barged into a memorial at Pomona College hosted by Hillel and featuring a talk by an Oct. 7 survivor, one of several examples in which anti-Israel demonstrators disrupted campus life.
Conservative students also faced an uphill battle this school year, as at least 15 Turning Point USA clubs were blocked after the assassination of founder Charlie Kirk.
The largest chunk of incidents this past school year, however, centered on comments professors and other campus employees made in the wake of Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
While many on the right were justifiably upset with the hateful comments, most of them fell within the purview of the First Amendment.
The College Fix reviewed every incident on a case-by-case and only included in the database incidents in which campus employees made thoughtful and non-violent comments on their personal and private social media that resulted in campaigns for their suspension or termination, or they in fact were put on leave or fired.
The Fix did not include in the database instances involving egregious celebrations of violence by those working directly with students.
Adam Kissel, a higher education and free speech expert, told The College Fix he questioned the wisdom of public university officials who chose to suspend or fire professors and other employees for saying something negative about Kirk’s murder on social media.
He said the Constitution does not allow government workers to be fired for merely unpopular speech.
He said the Supreme Court-established “Pickering test” governs each case, weighing the employee’s free speech right to speak as a private citizen on a matter of public concern against the government’s interest in maintaining a functional workplace.
“Especially for a public university, it comes down to a balancing test. How bad was it for operations, did it really disrupt campus activities, or are people just crying about it and upset? People calling up and complaining, that’s not enough,” Kissel said. “Students saying, ‘I can’t take this person’s class because I think they hate me,’ is a closer call.”
He said while emotions ran high at the time, most campus attorneys will advise administrators to find other ways to address the issue, such as a non-renewal of contract when the time comes.
“There is a difference between what a judge is going to do with a First Amendment case in court and a cultural analysis,” Kissel said. “Things that are unethical to say are still bad, but they are protected speech.”
“You can fire someone for any reason or no reason — so long as it is not an illegal reason.”
In fact, several campus employees who were suspended or fired for their comments on Kirk have since successfully battled those decisions in court, including one professor who is set to receive a $1.9 million settlement.
Another large chunk of the campus cancel culture examples in the database this last school year center on Cesar Chavez, the farmwork civil rights leader and labor organizer.
After a March 18 article in the New York Times quoted women accusing him of sexual assault, universities across the nation essentially erased Chavez from campus. Within mere weeks, his name was removed from buildings, his statues were taken down, and celebrations in his honor were renamed.
But some questioned the motive for his cancelation, noting Chavez is dead, he cannot defend himself; and more notably, Chavez was staunchly against illegal immigration, once launching a campaign to have illegal immigrants identified and deported, a stance that conflicts with the Left’s current platform.
Additional highlights cataloged by the Campus Cancel Culture Database during 2025-26 include:
Activists shut down speech by Google AI chief, say tech aids Palestinian ‘genocide’
Kansas State suspends soccer coach for saying n-word while telling players not to use slur
Swarthmore scrubs professor’s name from hall due to ‘Indigenous grave excavation’
Arizona university bans YAF’s ‘DEI IS RACISM’ poster wording
9/11 memorial vandalized on Michigan Tech University’s campus
Click here to review the entire database.
MORE: ASU professor docked for ‘Christian bias’ after asking students about ‘highest good’
