Officials at taxpayer-funded Virginia Tech have disinvited Jason Riley from speaking on campus because they fear “protests from the looney left.”
Riley, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and a senior fellow at the free market-oriented Manhattan Institute, got the bad news late last week, according to National Review.
He had been scheduled to give a speech at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business as part of its BB&T distinguished lecture series.
The unidentified professor who had arranged Riley’s speech explained in an email that Vijay Singal, the chairman of Virginia Tech’s finance department, had decided to disinvite Riley.
National Review obtained the email.
Singal wrote that he realized that Riley, who is black, “has written about race issues.” As such, Singal chose to disinvite Riley because he was “worried about more protests from the looney left.”
The professor who informed Riley of the cancellation said Singal and faculty members who supported Singal’s decision discounted arguments that canceling Riley’s speech would amount to a capitulation to even the possibility of intimidation.
According to Singal’s biography, he is a member of the board of directors of Sapient Corp., a Nasdaq-traded company which provides consulting and technology services for “some of the world’s most recognized companies” including Coca-Cola, LensCrafters, Verizon and, of course, the makers of Axe body spray.
Riley, a fixture of television punditry, is a prolific author and journalist. His commentary for The Wall Street Journal is substantial. He also has written books including “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed.”
Virginia Tech’s Pamplin School of Business recently hosted a lecture by Charles Murray, a conservative political scientist. Murray’s speech, which was similarly part of the BB&T distinguished lecture series, drew an array of whiny open letters from various leftist groups.
Preventing conservatives from expressing their viewpoints on taxpayer-funded campuses has been all the rage in recent months. In March, for example, officials at the State University of New York at New Paltz curtly canceled a planned campus debate between a notable left-wing media critic and a notable right-wing media critic because the right-wing media critic, Cliff Kincaid, has right-wing views. The debate, had it occurred, would have focused on presidential campaign media coverage. (RELATED: College Cancels Debate Between Conservative And Liberal BECAUSE CONSERVATIVE WAS PARTICIPATING)
“The intended purpose for our community would likely not be achieved,” SUNY New Paltz student activities director Mike Patterson explained, according to The New Paltz Oracle.
Leftist agitators who fiercely interrupt speeches by conservatives and libertarians is also a growing phenomenon on America’s taxpayer-funded campuses.
A now-infamous video from late April shows a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst losing her mind after Milo Yiannopoulos told a crowd that “feminism is cancer.”
The student, Cora Segal, who is now known around the world as “Triggly Puff,” can be seen repeatedly yelling “rape apologist” and “fuck you” at the conservative talking head.
“This is free speech!” she also hollered shrilly and stridently. “Keep your hate speech off this campus!” (VIDEO: College Feminist Goes Nuclear)
Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.