By Matt Rooney
They can’t say we didn’t warn them, Save Jerseyans.
It’s being widely reported that Rutgers University abruptly canceled an engineering school graduation speech by businessman Rami Elghandour last week after students – we don’t know how many – objected to his anti-Israel social media activity. Elghandour, a biotech executive and Rutgers engineering graduate, had been selected to deliver the May 15th convocation address for the engineering school before administrators suddenly pulled the plug behind closed doors.
Blaming the students is a choice, for sure! In reality, the university leadership appears terrified of controversy during commencement season at a time when campuses across America remain consumed by political activism tied to the Gaza conflict and whatever else scratches the itch of our nation’s introdrinated youth.
You reap what you sow. For years, elite Western universities preached the gospel of “free expression” while simultaneously encouraging anti-Western activist politics in classrooms, faculty lounges, and student organizations. Now, to the surprise of no honest person paying attention, college administrators are discovering that ideological mobs rarely stop demanding obedience once empowered. Remember: Rutgers itself allowed a pro-Hamas encampment to set up and exist for far too long its main campus back in 2024.
Elghandour himself reportedly accused Rutgers of cowardice. The university had previously celebrated his activism and even promoted his involvement with a documentary about a Palestinian child killed during the war. In an interview with The Guardian, Elghandour suggested Rutgers only abandoned him once the political pressure became uncomfortable.
He has a point.
This wasn’t a case of hidden beliefs suddenly surfacing. Rutgers knew exactly who he was when extending the invitation. The school simply calculated that it needed to reverse course when it got caught and faced embarrassment.
Ironically, the controversy also exposes the selective nature of campus “tolerance.” Universities routinely host “progressive” speakers who insult conservatives, Christians, police officers, or Republicans with little institutional concern. Criticism of Israel and, in many cases open anti-Semitism, is increasingly tolerated at least until donors start making phone calls.
Rutgers didn’t take a stand against radicalism. Nothing noble happened here. It simply folded under pressure — the same weakness higher education has displayed repeatedly over the last decade as our campuses have been consumed by the forces of crazy, a Frankenstein monster of these universities’ own creation.
