30 Issues | The 'Political Correctness' Takeover in American Colleges

Jason Riley was invited to give a speech at Virginia Tech.

Soon after, the invitation was rescinded because of concerns that his writings on race would spark protests among students.

And not too long after that, he was invited back because of the backlash to the backlash.

Riley, who is a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed (Encounter Books, 2014), argues that fear of political correctness is limiting what ideas students will hear and what they'll learn.

@BrianLehrer There can be no "line." You know it when you see it. Conservatives always see it when it limits what they have to say.

— Robert (@maravillage44) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer @jasonrileywsj If the school isn't paying them to speak, let 'em speak. Attendance NOT required

— Stuart Nezin (@stuNezin) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer when I was at Columbia Ahmadinejad visited and spoke - he advertised his ignorance by saying there are no gay people in Iran

— Harriet Thugman (@estij) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer @jasonrileywsj I & several friends boycotted college commencement with David Rockefeller,went to grad school with Bill Cosby. 😳

— Judith B (@SoccerLacrossMa) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer @jasonrileywsj can hateful speech be traumatic to oppressed groups? if so, how should such trauma be handled?

— fafa sojidellha (@fafa019) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer We teach young adults to exercise their voice. When they lobby to uninvite a speaker that's what they're doing.

— Toni Blake (@ToniBlakePR1) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer My alma mater stopped doing commencement speakers five or six years ago for this reason. Takes too much attention off of grads

— Joe Paille (@JoePaill) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer St. Olaf in Minnesota. IIRC, it was Erik Paulsen, an alum, a R Congressman who didn't support gay marriage.

— Joe Paille (@JoePaill) May 12, 2016

I'm fed up with people decrying "political correctness" on campus - the students pay to go there we get to decide who speaks @BrianLehrer

— Klaudia Amenábar (@kaludiasays) May 12, 2016

@BrianLehrer I protested against Sec. Rice in 2014 at Rutgers - war criminals should not be given a podium but should instead be tried.

— Nick Fox (@lolNickFox) May 12, 2016