Debate club advisor shut down my guest speaker last semester

I was hosting a free speech event in the student union at San Diego State last fall and had a local journalist lined up to talk about press freedom on campus. The advisor told me 2 hours before that the speaker was "too controversial" and canceled the room reservation without telling anyone. Has anyone else had a faculty member pull the plug on an event like that and how did you handle the fallout?

2 comments

2 Comments

burns.ruby11d agoMost Upvoted

Actually it was a room reservation issue, not technically a cancellation.

henrygrant11d ago

I read a report from FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) that said almost 40% of college students have seen a speaker disinvited or an event shut down in the last few years. Your situation with the debate club advisor sounds exactly like that pattern, where faculty use administrative excuses (like room reservations) to block stuff they don't like. The fact that he canceled it two hours before without telling anyone is super sketchy, it's basically a sneak attack on your event. I'd file a complaint with the student affairs office or the ombudsman (if your school has one) and ask for a written explanation of the policy on speaker cancellations. You might also want to talk to the student paper about it, since journalists love a story about censorship (and it puts pressure on the admin to be more transparent). It's messed up when advisors think they can just override student-organized events like that, especially at a public university where free speech is supposed to be protected.