Former Republican political pundit, talk radio host and lawyer Michael Smerconish announced today that he was “disinvited” as the 2024 commencement speaker at Dickinson College, a private liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (The college was named in honor of John Dickinson, a Founding Father who voted to ratify the Constitution and later served as governor of Pennsylvania.)
Smerconish, who left the Republican Party in 2010 to become an Independent, wrote that “some Dickinson faculty and students raised complaints about a book I published in 2004…They were left uncomfortable after a selective reading from my post-9/11 book through their 2024 lens.”
Smerconish also noted that “signs at a student encampment this week displayed the demand of my cancellation alongside divestment in Israel.”
Smerconish said Dickinson College president John E. Jones wrote to him on Saturday, “to rescind the invitation, citing a desire to limit distraction at graduation.”
This weekend, I was disinvited as the commencement speaker @DickinsonCol – Please read my response here: https://t.co/3MB0gQvmYW
— Michael Smerconish (@smerconish) May 6, 2024
Note: Smerconish is the author of the 2004 book Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11. Conservative radio host Glenn Beck wrote a blurb for the book: “Before you get on another airplane, read this book,” as did Fox News star Sean Hannity, who wrote: “Michael Smerconish is saying what many Americans are thinking–we need to have this debate.”
Smerconish today said his 2004 book “has been grossly distorted by those who advocated for my Dickinson cancellation. I doubt any of those critics read it in total. Instead they have surgically selected quotes that suit their narrative, not the thesis of the book.”
D.C. National security attorney Mark Zaid voiced his objection to the disinvitation directly to Dickinson College. Zaid wrote: “Seeing things differently, as your X account describes, Dickinson College, does not mean you don’t see things falsely through an incorrect lens. What an embarrassment for you to have disinvited Smerconish as commencement speaker. You’re fortunate Michael handled it w/poise.”
Smerconish had already written his commencement speech. He said “It’s a 14-minute version of longer remarks I’m delivering across the country called The Mingle Project. In a world of bombast and discontent, I’m on a mission to restore civility and compromise to our public discourse.” Trailer above.