Ivanka Trump condemns ‘cancel culture’ after WSU Tech cancels her commencement speech

Ivanka Trump called Wichita State University and WSU Tech’s decision to cancel her commencement speech “antithetical to academia” after the schools canceled her speech amid criticism of the White House’s response to protests against racist policing.

WSU Tech, a Wichita State-affiliated technical training school, announced Thursday that Trump would deliver a commencement speech to graduates Saturday afternoon during a virtual graduation ceremony for the school’s 750-plus graduates. After backlash from Wichita State faculty, students and alumni, the two institutions released a joint statement late Thursday canceling Trump’s speech.

Trump released her commencement speech, which she said was recorded on May 18, on YouTube and shared it to her 8.9 million Twitter followers on Friday evening. In a written statement, she encouraged students to “dream big and aspire to make the world a better place” and condemned the decision to cancel her address to graduates.

“Our nation’s campuses should be bastions of free speech,” Trump tweeted. “Cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination are antithetical to academia.”

Pressure was on Wichita State administrators after Jennifer Ray, associate professor of photo media, authored an open letter asking the university to cancel Trump. It circulated on social media quickly and had 487 signatures from concerned faculty, students and alumni by 11 p.m. Thursday.

In the letter, Ray wrote that she was “horrified and disgusted” that Trump had been invited to speak at the ceremony and that doing so sent the wrong message about the public university’s commitment to diversity.

“To our students of color, and to me, inviting Ivanka Trump to speak right now sends the message that WSU Tech does not take diversity seriously,” Ray wrote.

“Ivanka Trump, obviously, represents her father’s administration as one of his closest advisors,” she wrote. “To many Americans, that administration has come to signify the worst of our country, particularly in its recent actions toward those peacefully protesting against racist police brutality. This is not about politics and policy; some of the sharpest critiques of President Trump’s actions come from prominent members of his own party, from figures like former Defense Secretary James Mattis and President George W. Bush.”

WSU Tech President Sheree Utash apologized Thursday to the Wichita State and WSU Tech communities, saying in a statement that “the timing of the announcement was insensitive.”

After announcing the cancellation, Utash released a statement that said Trump’s speech would be one of 30 optional speeches students could listen to in the virtual graduation.

“I respect and understand the sharply divided reaction to today’s announcement,” she said Thursday. “The college stands with those who fight injustice and advocate for social equity, and we’re profoundly proud of the diversity and social change being brought forth by our students, alumni, faculty, and staff.”

Despite the backlash, Trump’s speech largely avoids political messaging. It starts with praise for WSU Tech’s Utash.

Utash was appointed by President Donald Trump to sit on the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which is co-chaired by his daughter and advisor, Ivanka Trump.

Ivanka Trump calls the WSU Tech graduates “wartime graduate(s)” and praises the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the country is “building up the greatest medical arsenal in the world.”

Keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States has been one of President Trump’s campaign promises, and business was booming for Wichita’s aviation companies until the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded worldwide, forcing massive layoffs at Spirit AeroSystems, the city’s largest employer.

Thousands more Wichita aviation manufacturing jobs have been cut due to a downturn in the airlines industry, which has taken a tremendous blow during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump praised the resilience of industry to refocus on medical production to help fight the disease. About 700 jobs at Spirit have been temporarily saved so the company can manufacture tens of thousands of ventilators.

“Our nation is beating back the virus through the strength and skill, muscle and might of the American worker,” she said.

Trump is no stranger to WSU Tech. She visited last fall with Sen. Jerry Moran and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and has praised the technical school’s focus on job training. In her speech, she asks graduates not to lose hope as they enter the workforce during one of the worst economic crises in the country’s history.

“In my own life, I found that my greatest personal growth has arisen from times of discomfort and uncertainty that one can only really appreciate in hindsight.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 10:26 PM.