Haverford College was going to have former University of California chancellor Robert Birgeneau as its commencement speaker, but the usual kind of student protest has caused him to bow out. Inside Higher Ed has the story.

Birgeneau is a dyed-in-the-wool academic liberal (how else could one get to be chancellor at Berkeley?) but during his tenure, some students protesting tuition increases were pepper-sprayed. It’s pretty silly to hold that against Birgeneau, but these days if you want a speaker kept away, it’s sufficient merely to complain that he didn’t prevent every bad thing from happening.

This trend may kill off the tradition of having commencement speakers.