Five days ago Wichita State University president Jay Golden canceled a pre-recorded commencement address given by Ivanka Trump due to the Trump administration’s horrific actions last week breaking up peaceful protests. Wichita State students complained about having someone involved in tear-gassing the protesters in Lafayette Plaza as their commencement speaker.

Ivanka took the cancellation like a Trump, she went on z and whined that it was all so unfair to her and it’s the school’s fault because of “Cancel Culture.” She wanted her speech, damn it. So she released it on Twitter – of course, she’s a Trump.

Our nation’s campuses should be bastions of free speech. Cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination are antithetical to academia.

Listening to one another is important now more than ever!https://t.co/VW6W8TIL9c

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 5, 2020

The speech could have been canceled on quality alone. It was beyond awful and, as we’ve already reported, one would have better off putting the speakers to the computer and simply saying: “Alexa, give a commencement address.”

But Ivanka’s complaints stirred something deep in the wealthy supporters of Wichita State University, and they’re now out to get Golden fired. According to The Wichita Eagle:

Wichita State donors are threatening to cut ties and pull support from the university if the Kansas Board of Regents don’t dump president Jay Golden for canceling Ivanka Trump’s commencement speech.

The flap over cancellation of President Trump’s daughter’s speech to students at the university’s separate trade-school campus threatens a multi-million-dollar relationship with Wichita’s largest private corporation, Koch Industries, according to a former state regent with deep ties to WSU.

One would doubt that the matter would cause such an uproar had Ivanka merely tweeted back that “these are difficult times and emotions are high, I respect the students’ decision to choose whom they want and respect President Golden for acting on their demands.”

But that’s not Ivanka, and when she complained, the wealthy conservatives in Kansas had her back.

Meanwhile, President Golden is taking a very courageous stand because usually dollars will win out in the end, and he is on borrowed time:

“I live and I own this decision. But I also want to say to the faculty and staff and students that we are focused on diversity, and we are going to be focused on diversity of our workforce, our student body, but also in regard to diversity of thought. We’re not going to back down.”

Good for him, and good for the students. Despite Ivanka’s pouting, and the Koch’s money, no one has a “right” to give a commencement address. It is an invitation, and if an institution is offended by the speaker’s actions, it is their right to disinvite that speaker. But apparently the Kochs and other moneyed supporters think that the right to take racist action – as Ivanka did in her participation – should be respected more than the students and president’s right to rescind the invitation.

Sadly, we all know how this is going to end. Money will win out, it always will. Golden effectively gave up his job to do what is right. Good for him.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom