Overview
- Morton Schapiro withdrew from Georgetown Law’s May 17 commencement after Interim Dean Joshua Teitelbaum disclosed Wednesday that students objected to his recent opinion pieces on Israel and Palestine.
- Georgetown named Professor David Cole, a former ACLU legal director, as the replacement, and he has argued that universities should not censor even offensive or unpopular campus speech.
- A student petition criticized Schapiro as holding “controversial, Zionist, and harmful opinions” and drew more than 280 signatures, according to campus and news reports.
- Schapiro said he did not want his presence to distract from the graduates’ celebration, noting he had planned a talk focused on humility and gratitude.
- Reporters linked the Georgetown change to a wider run of graduation disputes tied to the Gaza war, citing Rutgers’ rescinded speaker this week and an apology from Michigan’s president over remarks at a ceremony.