June 16, 2022

Cancel Culture Is Alive and Well on Campus

By one count, there were nearly 200 examples of campus cancelation by the woke mob last year.

Colleges and universities across the country are now dormant for the summer. Degrees have been bestowed. Commencement speakers deemed sufficiently woke have graced the campuses and delivered their platitudes. What better time to look back at the damage done by the Left during the recently completed academic year?

The Student Free Press Association, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting free speech in college student journalism, tracks cancel culture incidents each year. From June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, its Campus Cancel Culture Database tracked 186 incidents of speakers, signs, statues, and other organizations that were canceled or targeted for cancellation. That adds up to nearly four campus cancellations per week over the past school year.

Professorial comments and research came under fire in 41 reported incidents for daring to go against the tide of the predominant leftist campus culture. This led to firings, suspensions, removal from panels, and being chased out of events.

The most recent and high-profile incident was the forced resignation of constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro from Georgetown University Law School. His crime? Calling out the blatant racism and sexism that motivated Joe Biden’s recent pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Left succeeded in rewriting history in its own image with the removal of 22 names from campus buildings and institutions. Another 10 were protested but so far have retained their historical place. Among those canceled or attacked were Ronald Reagan, several former Supreme Court justices, wealthy benefactors who paid for said buildings, and respected science and humanities scholars.

Other victims of the woke mob include a University of Washington scientist who was forced to resign after it was discovered she dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween 13 years ago. Columbia University has disassociated itself from Dr. Mehmet Oz now that he’s a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. Two honorary degrees bestowed upon Rudy Giuliani were revoked, as was one to Michael Flynn.

Giuliani and Flynn probably aren’t too badly hurt by having their honorifics rescinded. Such handouts are often motivated by colleges and universities looking to stir interest in their institutions among donors and potential students, and they don’t hold any weight as actual degrees. Then again, many degrees given to graduating students these days don’t carry much weight, either.

Unlike Giuliani and Flynn, though, many scholars have had their work and their lives ruined by this immature and vindictive behavior. In one tragic instance two years ago, Mike Adams, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, committed suicide after his career was yanked out from under him. Adams had been a respected member of the UNCW faculty until he converted to Christianity and began espousing conservative beliefs. The woke mob and its media lackeys were both relentless and unrepentant, smearing him with unsubstantiated claims even after his death.

College and university administrations have clearly forgotten that they’re in the business of educating students who pay exorbitant fees for the “privilege.” Instead, campuses across the country are being run as if they’re forward operating bases in the woke culture war. As such, they’ll engage in any leftist battle, no matter how small or far away or insignificant. Faculty positions and essential administration staffers are being cut with no consideration of the time that these dedicated people have served. But diversity offices continue to grow, as do so-called “community engagement” programs that are often designed to foment social and racial discord.

Guard against being taken in by the sob stories about colleges closing and being unable to provide financial aid for students. The higher education industry is flush with cash.

Instead, look at each school that closes — and all potential students who choose a path that steers them clear of the university campus — as one more small victory for the long-term health of American society.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.