Event featuring cancel culture critic James Lindsay cancelled by Harvard University club

Lindsay co-authored the 2020 book Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody and founded New Discourses, an apolitical website that takes on trending educational, cultural, and social justice issues.

He was set to discuss Cynical Theories at the Harvard event planned for March 11. But on Tuesday night, he announced via Twitter that his speech was cancelled.

"[B]ecause someone was upset that I exist, they changed the moderator to their chief equity officer, Hemali Dassani, and then, when I didn't back down, cancelled the event," Lindsay tweeted Tuesday, adding that "Harvard sucks."

In an email sent Wednesday to The College Fix, the HBS Club of New York's executive director Eunice Suh said that the organization decided that the event did not align with the club's goals. "Although we welcome vigorous debate and different points of view, we have decided not to offer this program since it is not consistent with the objectives of our organization," Suh wrote to the news outlet.

Then on Wednesday afternoon, the event's initial sign up page was scrubbed from the club's website. "Many people are nonplussed by the surge of wokery, social justice warfare, intersectionality, and identity politics that has spilled out of academia and inundated other spheres of life. Where did it come from? What ideas are behind it?" the webpage had quoted Johnstone Family psychology professor Steven Pinker's questions published on the jacket of Cynical Theories.

"Disclaimer: The views expressed in this program are those of the author and do not reflect those of the HBS Club of New York," the event page's description noted.

As for his cancellation, Lindsay told The College Fix via direct message Wednesday that the original moderator was slated to be HBS alum Jean-Louis Maserati, who is open to Lindsay's arguments, but several critics were concerned that Maserati might have allowed Lindsay's ideas to remain unchallenged.

To compromise, Dassani was tapped to moderate as the chair of the club's racial equity task force. In response, Lindsay stated that he had told the event's organizers that he expected that the event may turn "hostile."

"They cancelled the event a few days later without any real explanation, saying that while they support difference of opinion and debate, they no longer think this event would be the right fit. I asked for more of an explanation, and, though they replied, I wasn't given any more details," Lindsay told The College Fix.

Veritas, which is Latin for "truth," was adopted as Harvard's motto in 1643. Lindsay modified the university's decorative seal. Unless truth is "not consistent with the objectives of our organization," Lindsay fired back Thursday morning.