Michael Smerconish reacts to Dickinson College commencement disinvitation

CARLISLE, Pa. (WHTM) – Dickinson College will graduate its Class of 2024 this Sunday.

It was going to have nationally-known media personality Michael Smerconish as its commencement speaker. That was, until the Pennsylvania native Smerconish was dis-invited to speak at graduation.

“It has become clear that our selected speaker, Michael Smerconish, faced overwhelming opposition from our faculty and students, particularly after recent comments he made,” said Jones earlier this month. “As a result, with the support of our Board of Trustees, I have decided to rescind the honorary degree and invitation to speak at Commencement.”

Smerconish spoke to abc27’s Dennis Owens saying “I’ve not heard from anybody, candidly. I’ve not heard from anybody who has said to me they made the right call.”

“They” would be Dickinson College. The call? Dis-inviting Smerconish as commencement speaker and not giving him an honorary degree.

“It says that, unfortunately, we’re going to yield to the whim of the mob instead of making rationed, adult like decisions,” Smerconish said.

Like many colleges, Dickinson experienced a spring of Arab discontent and encampments amid the Israel-Hamas war. The discontent also focused on a 2004 Smerconish book called “Flying Blind” which criticized the Transportation Safety Administration post-9/11 for not profiling passengers.

He wrote, “We’re fighting a war against young Arab male extremists, and yet our government continues to enforce political correct ‘random screening’ of airline passengers instead of targeting those who look like terrorists. Why? “

“I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Aodhan Almony, Dickinson College Class of 2024, said.

The student newspaper editorialized that the Class of 2024 deserved better than Smerconish.

“I think that inviting someone like that would undermine the dignity of a lot of Arab students here,” Almony said.

“Dennis, some of the words, they don’t age well,” said Smerconis, though he stands by his criticism of TSA policy not to profile. “I said it was ludicrous then. I believe it to be ludicrous today.”

And that, says Dickinsonian Co-Editor Walker Kmetz, is why Dickinson College President John Jones rescinded the invitation. But isn’t that silencing a contrarian view, cancel culture?

“I don’t think so. I think that if he had handled his response better, I don’t believe the administration would have acted,” Kmetz said.

“I think that when you have a commencement speaker or anyone else who is being honored in the way that Smerconish was going to be, that is platforming, rather than just allowing them to speak, it’s it’s an endorsement of those ideas,” Almony said.

The message students won’t hear, Smerconish argues, is needed now more than ever. Focus on what unites us, he would’ve told them, not what divides.

“It was a message titled The Mingle Project and it was a plea for common experience,” Smerconish said. “Get out of your bubble, get offline. Get together in the town square. We can hash it out. Isn’t that ironic?”

With Smerconish out, it is likely Jones is now in. He is a former federal judge who has never shied away from controversial issues. The floor is now his.

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