George Mason University President Responds to Students Protesting Commencement Address by Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Graduates walk to the stage during a graduation ceremony at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., on May 13, 2021. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

George Mason University President Gregory Washington defended the University’s decision to have Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, give the spring 2023 commencement address, saying that universities are places for healthy debate and hearing ideas one may not agree with.

The President of Virginia’s “most diverse” public university called on the school community to support free speech and help “build an effective society,” adding that diversity includes the diversity of ideas.

“If we teach that the only way to deal with the opposition is to suppress it, we rob students of the very tools they will need to build an effective society,” Washington said in a March 27 written statement to those opposing Youngkin’s invitation.

“I support those students who are making their voices heard, and I applaud their courage and commitment to advocate for themselves and their communities,” said Washington. “That being said, I don’t believe that we should silence the voices of those with whom we disagree, especially in this forum where there is no imminent threat present as a result of the disagreements.”

Soon after the university announced Youngkin’s invite, GMU student Alaina Ruffin launched a Change.org petition claiming that by having Youngkin address the 2023 graduating class in May, the institution would be contradicting its core values, especially diversity.

“George Mason University prides itself on being one of ’the most diverse institutions in the Commonwealth.' Yet by having Governor Youngkin as this year’s Commencement speaker, we believe that the University compromises its supposed values of centering students’ experiences and overall well-being,” wrote Ruffin.

Washington challenged those protesting his decision by asking a question.

“Is his [Youngkin] inclusion in commencement a betrayal of our core identity of diversity, and commitment to inclusivity? Or are his presence and the passionate objections it has inspired actually the purest reflections of who we are as Mason Patriots?”

Opponents to Youngkin, who signed Ruffin’s petition, criticized the governor for supporting “anti-trans” legislation, abolishing “racial equity curricula,” and restricting “the availability of literature” in schools.

Loudoun County mother Shawntel Cooper (Top 3rd L) experienced an emotional moment in the State Capitol as the new Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (C) signed an executive order to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public education on Jan. 15, 2022. Courtesy of Brandon Jarvis of Virginia Scope

“I and my peers do not want the memories of our graduation day to be tainted by an individual who has harmed and continues to harm the people he serves,” Ruffin wrote.

The effort to prevent Youngkin from speaking is only the latest effort by campus progressives to ban dissenting views that they deem “hateful.”

Josiah Joner, the executive editor of Stanford University’s The Stanford Review, told the House Education Subcommittee at a March 29 hearing that the current culture at his university and most others exiles free speech and debate.

Joner said ensuring First Amendment rights is crucial to the success of all educational institutes.

“This is not a conservative issue. This is not a liberal issue. This issue of free speech is at the core of what defines our society in the United States. And without it, these institutions will fail,” Joner said.