In another victory for the mobocracy, Dickinson College canceled the commencement address of CNN host Michael Smerconish after liberal and pro-Palestinian students objected. The school decided to forego any speaker rather than risk the ire of radical students and groups. The greatest loss was not to Smerconish but to the college and the students. These graduates could have heard from one of the brightest legal minds in media and a person who has been a powerful and unflagging champion of free speech.
The decision was an unparalleled act of cowardice by President John Jones, who cited “overwhelming opposition” to Smerconish in a recent statement.
Somehow Jones viewed yielding to the mob to be a virtuous act and announced that “with the support of our Board of Trustees, I have decided to rescind the honorary degree and invitation to speak at Commencement.”
That certainly offered clarity to the question and the solution: Jones and the board should resign.
The very touchstone of higher education is a diversity of viewpoints. We have seen a growing orthodoxy on our campuses with little tolerance for dissenting views, particularly when it comes to conservative or libertarian voices. That is most evident in the selection of commencement speakers. It is now routine to invite far left commencement speakers, including at my own university. Speakers like MSNBC host Jen Psaki this year at GW are treated as ideal choices while the selection of more moderate or conservative speakers would trigger protests and cancel campaigns.
Commencements are now an extension of echo chambers on our campuses where faculties have largely purged conservatives from their ranks.
We previously discussed how surveys at universities show a virtual purging of conservative and Republican faculty members. For example, last year, the Harvard Crimson noted that the university had virtually eliminated Republicans from most departments but that the lack of diversity was not a problem. Now, a new survey conducted by the Harvard Crimson shows that more than three-quarters of Harvard Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty respondents identify as “liberal” or “very liberal.” Only 2.5% identified as “conservative,” and only 0.4% as “very conservative.”
Likewise, a study by Georgetown University’s Kevin Tobia and MIT’s Eric Martinez found that only nine percent of law school professors identify as conservative at the top 50 law schools. Notably, a 2017 study found 15 percent of faculties were conservative. Another study found that 33 out of 65 departments lacked a single conservative faculty member.
Compare that to a recent Gallup poll stating, “roughly equal proportions of U.S. adults identified as conservative (36%) and moderate (35%) in Gallup polling throughout 2022, while about a quarter identified as liberal (26%).”
Targeting Smerconish is particularly maddening. I have known Michael for many years and I hold him in the highest respect. He remains one of the most intelligent and principled figures in the media. He is also one of the most consistent and committed figures in the media in his defense of the rule of law and constitutional values.
Critics have focused on excerpts from the journalist’s 2004 book “Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11.” They charge that the book supports “racial profiling.” Yet, it is possible to disagree with a viewpoint or statement without seeking to cancel the speaker from being heard in a commencement or other event. Figures on the left often have a myriad of troubling past comments, but are routinely invited to speak at commencements.
The truth is that Smerconish is one of the most outspoken civil libertarians in the country and has routinely defended groups stereotyped or targeted simply for their race or national origin.
In a statement on his website, Smerconish explained how his writings have been “grossly distorted.” He added how he wished Jones would have done “the honorable thing” and called to “explain his inability to control the unjustified campus sentiment.”
He is certainly correct, but such integrity is increasingly rare in higher education where administrators and educators have remained silent as their colleagues are targeted, investigated, and sometimes fired for their views. Most Dickinson College professors have remained silent or voiced support for the cancelation in the wake of this decision.
Jones and the Dickinson board took the path of least resistance when confronted by the academic mob. In doing so, they have abandoned the core values that define higher education.
This act of surrender is particularly glaring at a college founded in 1783 by the great Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and champion of individual rights.
It is named for John Dickinson, another founding father who refused to sign the Declaration on Independence in seeking a peaceful resolution with Great Britain. Dickinson was a person of tremendous courage and principle despite his false depiction in the musical 1776.
Dickinson stood up to tremendous pressures in maintaining his position and wrote “My conduct this day, I expect will give the finishing blow to my once too great and, my integrity considered, now too diminished popularity.” Yet, he would enlist with the patriots and fight in the War for Independence. He was only one of two Framers to do so. Even his political adversary John Adams praised him for his stalwart commitment to principle and refusal to yield to pressure.
Dickinson is a worthy model for those who believe in free speech and the need to protect a diversity of viewpoints. Indeed, he was an early target of a cancel campaign by those who refused to understand the reason for his opposition to the declaration. Now, the college named for Dickinson has become the very thing that he fought to resist in his life.
Michael Smerconish will remain a voice for tolerance and free speech. He is the very embodiment of the ideals that led to the establishment of Dickinson College.
About Michael’s screening sin:
The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was angered when he learned he had to undergo security screening between flights on the morning of the suicide attacks, a former U.S. Airways ticket agent says.
Michael Tuohey of Scarborough said he was suspicious of Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari when they rushed through the Portland International Jetport to make their flight to Boston that day.
Atta’s demeanor and the pair’s first-class, one-way tickets to Los Angeles made Tuohey think twice about them.
“I said to myself, ’If this guy doesn’t look like an Arab terrorist, then nothing does.’ Then I gave myself a mental slap, because in this day and age, it’s not nice to say things like this,” Tuohey told the Maine Sunday Telegram. “You’ve checked in hundreds of Arabs and Hindus and Sikhs, and you’ve never done that. I felt kind of embarrassed.”
In Boston, Atta and Alomari joined three other hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11, which they crashed into one of the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York. Five other hijackers left Boston on another flight, which they crashed into the other tower.
March 7, 2005, 12:02 PM EST / Source: The Associated Press.
PALESTINIANS, IRANIANS, QATARIS, SAUDI ARABIANS ET AL.
__________________________________________________________________
“New 9/11 evidence alleges ties between hijackers, Saudi government”
– Families of 9/11 victims and rescuers are suing to release video
– Footage allegedly shows Saudi officials welcoming hijackers to US
“Senior Saudi government officials helped the hijackers plan the attack,” Elizabeth Vargas.
– NEWSNATION
The above is dated May 22, 2024
The sham Democrat Immigration Bill failed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said 17 million illegal alien invaders criminally crossed the U.S. border.
Lincoln only let 4 million illegal alien invaders in.
Lincoln ensconced a foreign 4-million-man standing army, comprised of illegal aliens, on U.S. soil on January 1, 1863, when extant immigration law, the Naturalization Act of 1802, in full force and effect, denied their admission to become citizens.
Real President Donald J. Trump said he will use the military to deport illegals.
Traitors, “…adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort,” allowed the Obama Enemy Army to grow to 100 million.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“[Any emancipation should be gradual and carried out in conjunction with a program of scheduled deportation].”
“In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many years ago, ‘It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation, and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degrees, as that the evil will wear off insensibly; and in their places be, pari passu, filled up by free white laborers.’”
In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many years ago, “It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation, and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degrees, as that the evil will wear off insensibly; and in their places be, pari passu [on an equal basis], filled up by free white laborers.”
– Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union, New York City, February 27, 1860
If Never Real Trump really cared about immigration reform why did he kill the bipartisan bill?
Read, Bozo, it’s a sham.
That’s what the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) have to offer: A sham.
Here’s the American Immigration Law of the actual American Founders and Framers, passed within the year of the adoption of their American Constitution and Bill of Rights and never legally abrogated:
Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, and 1802 (four iterations for unmistakable clarity)
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof….
Jonathan: It’s getting kind of old–all your columns complaining about conservative speakers being “cancelled” by universities. Now it’s “a victory for mobocracy” in cancelling Michael Smercomish’s commencement speech at Dickinson College.
Apparently, the controversy and and protest over MS centers around his 2004 book “Flying Blind”. If you watched MS’s recent podcast it appears his book was partly motivated by being upset about how he and his son were treated by TSA people at an airport back then. You mention his book but you don’t analyze the contents that caused the Dickinson protest which you refer to as the “academic mob” and an “act of surrender”.
For clarity here are a few passages from the book: “We’re fighting a war against young Arab male extremists, and yet our government continues to enforce political correct ‘random screening’ of airline passengers instead of targeting those who look like terrorists. Why? Because they don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. Essentially, they are putting more emphasis on protecting diversity than protecting our safety”. In another passage MS says: “The TSA should at least be paying extra attention to those who have been known to commit terror acts in the past. Makes sense to me”.
Is MS advocating “racial profiling”? Sure seems like that. He wants the TSA to single out anyone of Middle Eastern extraction for particular screening because they “look like terrorists”. Although MS’s book is 20 years he has never changed his racist views. In the same recent podcast, after the protest at Dickinson first erupted, MS doubled down. He says he “stands by every word in the book”.
So you can understand why students, particular in the Muslim community at Dickinson, might oppose MS’s commencement speech. But the feeling on the campus was almost universal. In his letter to the “Dickinson Community” Pres. Jones said MS “faced overwhelming opposition from our faculty and students”. The Board of Trustees agreed. So the decision was not an “act of surrender” but an act that reflected the will of the majority on the Dickinson campus. The last time I looked majority rule still counts for something!
PANIC HERE
By whom was the u-haul rental signed, please? The FBI rented a u-haul? Be serious ���
Greetings MAGA losers and suckers,
WONDERFUL NEWS !!
Fidelity Investments reports that retirement account balances are hitting record levels.
“Americans’ retirement account balances are at their highest level in more than two years due to a combination of increased savings rates and positive market conditions, new findings from Fidelity Investments show.”
This is being reported by Fox news, so it has to be true, right.
After all Fox is the only source of “REAL NEWS”.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/retirement-account-balances-highest-level-2021
So, retirement accounts are hitting record highs, the stock markets are hitting record highs, unemployment and inflation are near record lows, GDP growing at healthy 3%.
Looks like the Biden economy is booming after the disastrous years under your cult leader.
Of course, you are probably not participating in this remarkable recovery. You are probably sending your hard earned money to a “MULTI-BILLIONAIRE” so he can pay his legal bills, or “investing” in golden sneakers and trading cards.
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/14/1251295805/credit-cards-debt-inflation
Credit card debt at all time high
Yes, people that are aware and know how money works, are delaying drawing out any retirement funds because the economy is sh shaky Ive been drawing my defined benefit retirement for years, but still plowing all Im allowed into my retirement accounts.
The masses are maxing out 28% interest rate credit cards
Take a look at home foreclosures.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/home-foreclosures-are-soaring-nationwide-and-rising-fastest-in-these-5-states/ar-BB1jWMeY
Absolutely fascinating how MAGA losers twist reality to fit their preconceived ideas of doom and gloom.
Credit car debt at all time high.
Mostly MAGA morons responding to Trump’s emails demanding money to pay his legal bills, buying golden sneakers, buying fake debit cards, buying bibles, buying Trump Bucks, buying the endless stream of junk that Trump sells on his website.
Just a very few examples:
https://www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-trump-debit-cards-scam/32836128.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-bucks-promise-wealth-maga-loyalty-lose-thousands-rcna84965
Foreclosures highest in 5 states according to YOUR link. These are deep red states.
WHY????? See above. MAGA morons sending all their money to Trump.
You state that people are delaying withdrawing retirement funds because the economy is shaky, and that you are plowing all you can into retirement accounts because of the shaky economy. This makes absolutely no economic sense. If the economy is “shaky” then your retirement funds are at high risk. If the economy is “shaky” you need to stop contributing and go to all cash in your accounts.
I went to all cash when COVID hit. Got back in to markets when everything settled down. With this amazing recovery I am up 76.52% in the last 2 years, with solid investments such as AMZN, GOOGL, AAPL, MSFT, NVDA.
A Moron Speaks…
TruthSocial is trading within 10% of its pre IPO highs, and DOUBLE the lows you squeeled about being proof the whole thing was a scam.
OH yea, btw, DJT still made $6 billion
Lets just say you understanding economic indicators, have been proven to be non-existent.
Really ????
Truth social is an economic indicator ????
Latest SEC filing for Truth Social most recent quarter:
Revenue; $770,550
Losses: $327,600,000
Revenue is less than the average revenue for a McDonalds franchise.
I sincerely hope you don’t have any money in this.
By the way, Trump has not “MADE” anything yet. His shares are still locked. He can’t realize any profits.
When his shares are unlocked he will try to sell, because he needs money. This will tank the stock.
Forgot to add this:
https://www.investors.com/news/donald-trump-stock-trump-media-loss-scant-revenue-djt-stock/
Truth social is an economic indicator ????
I never made such a claim.
Just pointing our how idiotic you were by given the short term dip after an IPO had any meaning at all
You posted almost everyday about the drop. But not once on the recovery.
But your the idiot tracking stocks daily. I just pointed our how stupid you were, and still are.
Revenue; $770,550
Losses: $327,600,000
AMAZON lost money for over a decade.
PANIC HERE
If you read his judicial decisions, this decision is about as surprising as the sun rising.
From Jones’ statement:
First this sop to intellectual inquiry —
“We encourage students to listen and discuss ideas and perspectives that are challenging and force them out of their comfort zone.”
Then, a mere two paragraphs later, on bended knee to the academic mob —
“Michael Smerconish, faced overwhelming opposition from our faculty and students [. . .] I have decided to rescind the honorary degree and invitation to speak at Commencement.”
When you gut history from the curriculum, names such as Socrates and Galileo are meaningless. The mob’s opposition to Vesalius and Pasteur doesn’t exist. And one cannot learn a lesson from the mob wielding Madame Guillotine.
Smerconish remains the one ‘fair and balanced’ voice on the largely left-leaning Cable news network. Now that Dickinson’s core values have been exposed in Turley’s piece, it seems more shameful.