The school had canceled an Oct. 7 talk with Ilya Shapiro ‘for security reasons’
New York University has reversed course and agreed to work with the Federalist Society to host the conservative scholar Ilya Shapiro on Oct. 7, according to emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and three people familiar with the matter.
The move comes after NYU’s law school claimed it could not accommodate Shapiro on that date—in part because of the “increased likelihood of demonstrations and protests connected to the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 incidents in Gaza”—sparking backlash from free speech watchdogs.
NYU’s Federalist Society chapter invited Shapiro to speak about his new book, Lawless, which argues that law schools have allowed disruptive protesters to exercise a heckler’s veto. NYU initially asked the Federalist Society to change the date of the talk for “security reasons.” When that wasn’t possible due to Shapiro’s schedule, the law school claimed that it had run out of space to host him on Oct. 7, effectively canceling the event.
Then, on Oct. 1, the Free Beacon published a story about the kabuki.
Within 24 hours, the university’s outside counsel approached Shapiro and asked “what was needed to make this right,” Shapiro told the Free Beacon.
By 8:00 p.m. that evening, the dean of law school, Troy McKenzie, told the Federalist Society that NYU did, in fact, have space to host the event after all.
“I have taken the unusual step of asking other schools and departments on Washington Square whether they might have an available venue for the event at your preferred date and time, given the limitations on resources at the Law School next week,” McKenzie wrote in an email on Oct. 2. “I am happy to share that the University has said that they will be able to host the panel at another NYU space, and to provide the necessary administrative and security support for the event.”
The about-face followed an onslaught of criticism from law professors and free speech groups, including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which described NYU’s actions as a “textbook heckler’s veto.”
“[B]y preemptively canceling a student-sponsored lecture due to expected opposition, NYU allows the threat of disruption to override students’ and speakers’ rights to listen and be heard,” FIRE wrote on X. “NYU must reaffirm its commitment to free expression by ensuring that all student groups, regardless of viewpoint, can peacefully host events with invited speakers without facing censorship disguised as logistics.”
Amid the firestorm, the Federalist Society had announced that it would host Shapiro off-campus along with three other speakers—appellate court judge Lisa Branch, district court judge Roy Altman, and former American Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen—for a panel about campus free speech.
All four panelists will now speak at NYU on Oct. 7. The university president’s office is overseeing logistics for the event.
