The Mount St. Mary’s University administration has rescinded an invitation to Dr. Simone Kolysh to deliver a lecture previously scheduled for April 6 at the Emmitsburg campus.
The university’s Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Human Services and the Mount’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD), an honor society of sociology, extended an invitation for Kolysh to speak at both the society’s induction dinner and at a public lecture. The scheduled lecture was titled Everyday Violence: The Public Harassment of Women and LGBTQ People.
The Record asked Provost Boyd Creasman, Dean Peter Dorsey, Dr. Kim Hansen, and Dr. Jack Trammell to confirm that the invitation had been rescinded. We also inquired about the motivation behind the rescission, the persons involved in the final decision, and whether plans exist to engage with the topic of the planned lecture from the perspective of another speaker.
Provost Boyd Creasman said in a statement that the administration “agree[s] that the topic of Dr. Kolysh’s presentation is an important message for our students to hear.”
Creasman continued, “Raising awareness of the ways in which women and LGBTQ people are publicly harassed in our society is of great academic merit for our students. However, as we became aware of statements made by the speaker on Twitter that showed great disrespect for the university’s values, we eventually made the decision to rescind the invitation.”
Dr. Peter Dorsey, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Kim Hansen, faculty advisor of AKD, declined to comment.
Dr. Jack Trammell, chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, did not respond to our request for comment.
