NYU Law School Cancels Federalist Society Event With Ilya Shapiro Over Fear of Protesters
“Shapiro, who is Jewish, has criticized anti-Israel protesters and taken schools to task over their handling of encampments.”
The Federalist Society was set to do an event on October 7th with conservative writer and scholar Ilya Shapiro, but the school caved to ‘security concerns’ over possible protesters. It’s a classic case of the heckler’s veto.
Last week, leftists across the country claimed to be champions of free speech because they were outraged that Jimmy Kimmel might not get to continue hosting a TV show. Where are they now?
The Washington Free Beacon reported:
NYU Axes Federalist Society Event Scheduled for Oct. 7, Citing Security Concerns
New York University Law School appears to have canceled a Federalist Society event scheduled for Oct. 7 because administrators feared that protesters would disrupt it, according to two people familiar with the matter and emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The cancellation has raised concerns about the heckler’s veto and comes as the White House anti-Semitism task force has vowed to investigate NYU, which last year settled a lawsuit alleging that the university failed to crack down on unsanctioned anti-Israel protests.
NYU’s Federalist Society chapter had invited the conservative legal scholar Ilya Shapiro to discuss his new book Lawless: The Miseducation of American Elites. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has criticized anti-Israel protesters and taken schools to task over their handling of encampments. He has also been the target of multiple campus protests, including one at UC Hastings, where he was shouted down for nearly an hour straight.
On September 10, NYU requested that the Federalist Society change the date of Shapiro’s talk, citing the possibility of disruptions.
“For security reasons, and because we anticipate an increased likelihood of demonstrations and protests connected to the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 incidents in Gaza, would it be possible to host Mr. Shapiro on another date?” the law school’s director of institutional programming and governance, Penelope Fernandes, wrote to student organizers. “If you can change the date, please let us know.”
Fernandes also recommended hosting the talk in Lipton Hall, a basement space with added security, in order to “minimize disruptions in the event of a protest or demonstration.”
Shapiro has been down this road before. He reacted on Twitter/X:
There they go again…. pic.twitter.com/FqhRYk04sG
— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) October 1, 2025
This is why I roll my eyes every time the left suddenly rediscovers its reverence for free speech.
The College Fix notes the irony of canceling an event that is in part about cancel culture:
NYU law school cancels speech about cancel culture at elite law schools
Legal scholar Ilya Shapiro will not be allowed to give his speech about cancel culture and wokeness at elite law schools after New York University’s law school refused to facilitate a room and security for the event.
Shapiro planned to discuss his book “Lawless: The Miseducation of American Elites,” which discusses various cancel culture incidents at American law schools, including his own.
However, NYU law school canceled the event, scheduled for October 7, due to security concerns. Oct. 7 is the two-year anniversary of when Hamas terrorists attacked innocent Israeli citizens. Shapiro is Jewish and supports Israel.
This classic tweet from Iowahawk about a different Shapiro sums up the situation perfectly.
DePaul: sorry, Ben Shapiro might bring a risk of violence to campus
Me: violence by whom?
DePaul: us— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 1, 2016
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Comments
another sad excuse to allow lefty to win
The law schools American Constitution Society ( left wing group formed in response to the Federalists) should automatically have an event cancelled but if I know Federalist members they find any censorship abhorrent and would be against it….which is why we are losing. Taking the high road when they go low just undermines it.
how many major sporting events would they cancel if/when lefty threatens !!??
but why would they fear *protestors*???
protestors of the left as cnn mslsd tells us are mostly peaceful and that any violence comes from outsiders who really arent part of the groups
oh btw
why isnt blmplo designated as terror orgs as they meet this definition:
A terrorist organization is typically defined as a group that uses violence or the threat of violence to intimidate or coerce a government or civilian population in pursuit of political, social, or ideological objectives. These organizations often operate outside the law and may be designated as such by governments based on their activities and goals.
ojp.gov Wikipedia
So they are acknowledging that left/socialist/commie/scumbag/idiot/agitators are violent and through that violence
they get to set policy at the schoolthe school policy makers, who agree with the violent mob, get cover to do what they want to in the first placeI wish to correct NYU Law School’s impression that there were “October 7, 2023 incidents in Gaza..”
The “incidents”, murders, rapes,maimings
, infanticides and other atrocities against civilians took place in Israel, not Gaza
Gaza is where the monsters planned and prepared the attack
Now let Shapiro speak.
The vile and evil Dhimmi-crats’/Islamofascists’ terrorists’ veto wins, again.
I only see one group that is a persistent and existential threat to free speech and to American civics and the constitutional order, and, it’s plainly the members of the “Red-Green” Dhimmi-crat-Islamofascist alliance.
Point out that the university is the one place where you can say (profess) anything that you think is true. If they don’t do that, it’s no longer a university.
you can say it, you just might get shot in the neck for it
the United States of America “is the one place where you can say (profess) anything that you think is true.” or it used to be
you didn’t need a “university”… a soapbox would do in our country
Back before it was turned into a brutalist monstrosity of concrete borders and benches, Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles had all these big huge shade trees and nice walkways and benches. It also had a variation on London’s Speaker’s Corner. Things could get interesting, and there were write-ups in the local papers.
That all went away with the Brutalization.
Outrageous, NYU should be cancelled.
If NYU had morally upright administrators, they would announce that the event will go on as planned, with heightened security, and, any student who disrupts the event will be expelled, and, any non-student agitator who disrupts it, will be arrested and prosecuted.
Yep. The NYU administration appears to be too cowardly to follow your common sense advice. Alternatively the NYU administration is merely revealing their own bias in hoping for an excuse to cancel the event and their leftist wokiesta fellow travelers supplied it with threats of violence/anarchy.
Spineless administrators under either alternative.
“…with heightened security…”
might need to include a strip search
I’m kinda okay with making a bunch of 20 year-olds remove their clothing. For security purposes, of course.
One thing for sure — if NYU were suddenly transported to 1943, they would NOT let Anne Frank live in their attic, don’t let them bulls* you.
Anybody need more proof that the left are the violent ones?
Out: heckler’s veto
In: Terrorist’s veto
Every time a university does this Trump should withhold $1B. Surely they can figure out how to protect conservative students rights.
Not a set figure: ~all~ federal dollars. For a minimum of a year. And no back pay: once lost, the money’s gone for good.
My bet is that this sort of bullshit would end by lunchtime.
I’m sure the paragons of free speech such as Jimmy Kimmel and network news will be all over this.