Anti-Feminist Speaker Suzanne Venker Reinvited to Speak at Williams College, Declines
Hosts were uncomfortable caving to the discomforted
Organizers of the "Uncomfortable Learning" speaking series at Williams College told me that they have decided to re-invite Suzanne Venker to speak on campus.
Venker, a conservative author and social critic who describes herself as an anti-feminist, was initially scheduled to give a lecture, but the informal student group cancelled her appearance in the wake of vicious criticism from other members of campus. Group Co-President Zach Wood was accused of "dipping your hands in the blood" of marginalized people by inviting someone like Venker to speak, which persuaded him that the lecture shouldn't take place.
Wood has since changed his mind.
"Suzanne Venker has been re-invited to Williams," he said in an email to Reason. "However, she has yet to confirm whether or not she'd like to come this spring."
Venker, however, doesn't think she will accept.
"No plans to accept since my speech has just been published, and the students can effectively see what I was going to say," she said in an email to Reason. "Plus I can't muster writing another speech anytime soon. As I say, it's no small thing and I'm already behind on a book I'm writing."