Overview
- Georgetown Law said Wednesday that Morton Schapiro withdrew as commencement speaker after students objected to opinion columns he wrote on Israel and Palestine.
- Interim Dean Joshua Teitelbaum told students he would not rescind the invite on free‑inquiry grounds and said Schapiro chose to step aside to avoid distracting from the ceremony.
- Professor David Cole will deliver the address as the replacement, and his record includes defending First Amendment protection for speech many find offensive and criticizing congressional antisemitism hearings as McCarthy‑style.
- A student petition that gathered 282 signatures argued Schapiro had no tie to Georgetown and held what it called controversial Zionist views, while other students faulted his Jewish Journal essays.
- The dispute lands as Georgetown Law faces scrutiny over past speaker controversies and leadership shifts, including incoming dean Liz Magill and earlier clashes over events tied to the Israel–Palestine debate.