Wake Forest University: President Cancels Campus Lecture, bans “Contentious Events” on October 7

On October 7, 2024, five Wake Forest University departments were set to host a campus lecture from Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi titled “One Year Since al-Aqsa Flood: Reflections on a Year of Genocide and Resistance.” Students began circulating a petition on September 22 urging the administration to cancel the lecture because of Abdulhadi’s allegedly anti-Semitic rhetoric and support of Hamas. On September 26, WFU President Susan Wente notified the campus of the “decision not to host events on [October 7, 2024] that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division in our campus community” and that she had therefore canceled Abdulhadi’s campus lecture. FIRE wrote WFU on October 3, explaining it cannot curtail its commitment to free speech and academic freedom because of opposition to certain views and rhetoric. We urged WFU to allow Abdulhadi to speak on campus on October 7 and to publicly rescind the decision to ban “contentious” events. WFU responded on October 8, explaining that its decision to cancel Abdulhadi’s event was because of “cascading events that eroded the University’s confidence in ensuring security[.]” FIRE wrote WFU again on October 22 explaining that mere fears of potential disturbance do not justify canceling an event and that its lack of disclosure of any specific security threats suggests this was a pretext to cancel Abdulhadi’s lecture.