Wake Forest University cancels 'inherently contentious' Palestinian activist lecture on Oct. 7

Wake Forest University announced Thursday that it would be canceling a campus lecture led by a Palestinian scholar and activist.

Rabab Abdulhadi is a professor and founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at San Francisco State University. She was scheduled to speak at Wake Forest on Oct. 7 for an event titled “One Year since al-Aqsa Flood: Reflections on a Year of Genocide and Resistance.” 

In a message to the Wake Forest community, University President Susan Wente and Provost Michele Gillespie said canceling the lecture was a “conscious decision not to host events on this day that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division in our campus community.”

The email states that the university would be “holding space for our many different perspectives and experiences,” and invited the community to attend an Interfaith Prayers for Peace event on the Manchester Quad, and a Community Reflection Event at Wait Chapel. 

The decision comes days after a group of Jewish students created a petition calling for the event to be canceled. The petition, which has over 8,500 signatures as of Sept. 26, alleges that the lecture would create a “hostile environment,” for students mourning the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. 

The Associated Press reports that the attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, with about 250 people taken as hostages. More than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, and more than 96,000 have been wounded.

In a statement to the Wake Forest University student newspaper, the Old Gold & Black, Professor and Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History Barry Trachtenberg called the administration’s decision to cancel the lecture an “absolute disgrace,” and a “betrayal of academic freedom.” 

“Every single university in Gaza has been obliterated, and thousands of students, professors, and staff have been killed,” Trachtenberg said. “Yet here, on our own campus, we are told that even discussing these atrocities is unacceptable.”

He says the event was intended to provide “expert insight on critical global issues, just as similar discussions have been held in response to other world events, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

A student group, Free Palestine WFU, shared a letter on Instagram urging the Wake Forest University administration to reconsider its decision and voiced support of Abdulhadi. 

“For Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and faculty, this decision is more than just a lost opportunity for discussion — it is a denial of their experiences and identity,” the letter states. “The choice to cancel the event, especially on a day of significance for Palestinians, dismisses their history and struggles, reinforcing the marginalization in both the academic and broader political discourse.”

Back in May, Wake Forest University administration called law enforcement officers to disband a pro-Palestine rally and encampment on campus.

A committee charged with reviewing the university’s response to the protests released a report in August, which found, among other things, that some members of the Wake Forest University community felt the administration had shown a bias in favor of those who support Israel.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.