National Review’s Lowry criticizes ISU for conference cancellation

Conservative writer and editor Rich Lowry is criticizing Indiana State University’s decision to cancel its Sept. 30 performance due to what the university describes as “campus and community safety concerns.”

Lowry, an editor at the National Review and a columnist for King Features and Politico, was scheduled to appear on campus Sept. 30 as part of the university’s lecture series.

The ISU previously described him as “a respected conservative voice” in a press release.

Lowry, who was accused by some of using a racial slur to refer to Haitian migrants during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show on Monday, says the alleged slur was actually a mispronunciation.

“In my line of work, everyone gets criticized for what they say. That’s normal. What’s different is being vilified for something you didn’t verifiably say,” Lowry wrote in a September 19 National Review online article.

The cancellation, he said, was the result of “malicious accounts on X in recent days that insisted that I had uttered a racial slur during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show last weekend.”

Lowry said the accusation had been refuted “even by people who disagree with me politically.”

Lowry said he was scheduled to speak at ISU later this month, but the university canceled his appearance.

ISU announced Wednesday that the cancellation was “in light of recent developments and following advice from our public safety officials regarding campus and community safety concerns.”

The university did not respond to requests for details about the security issues.

On Friday, the university responded: “At this time, Indiana State University has no further comment beyond what was stated in our public announcement regarding the cancellation of Mr. Lowry’s appearance. The decision was made in consultation with public safety officials based on safety concerns, and our priority remains the safety and well-being of our campus and community.”

If necessary, ISU “will be able to provide further statements early next week,” the university said.

In his National Review article, Lowry responded to the cancellation by saying, “This is a classic excuse, often used by university officials to get rid of speakers they find inconvenient.

“They would really like to have them, you know, but it would take as much security as is necessary for Donald Trump to be able to play a round of golf, so unfortunately it’s just not possible.”

Lowry continued: “Like all cancelers, the university wants you to believe that this is simply an exception to its scrupulous ethics: ‘It is important to emphasize that this cancellation is not intended to limit our neutrality on different political points of view,’” he quoted from the university’s statement on Wednesday.

He continued: “Yes, yes. Taking the side of a segment of the population online and giving them what they want on the basis of an almost certainly non-existent security threat does not demonstrate political neutrality.”

He added: “And if there is a real security threat, what does that say about Indiana State University? If the young people under its care and guardianship are likely to storm a classroom if I show up, that’s an indictment on them, not me.”

He also said he was disbarred by the Badger Institute, which he described as “Wisconsin’s right-wing think tank.”

Lowry detailed the reasons why his appearance was canceled.

On Megyn Kelly’s show, he brought up the Springfield, Ohio controversy and, as he was saying “Haitian migrants,” he started mispronouncing the word “migrants.”

Many people have heard the “N-word,” but Lowry maintains that’s not what he said.

“I started saying it (migrants) with a short ‘i’, like you say ‘immigrants’, instead of the long ‘i’ you use for ‘migrants’. I caught myself in the middle, before moving on to the correct pronunciation.

“So I said what you might call the M-word. You can try to look up the M-word, but you’ll fail, because it’s not a word, much less a racial slur. It just so happens to rhyme with a racial slur, but that doesn’t make it one,” he said.

He also suggested: “You can slow down the video and hear more clearly that what I said starts with an ‘m’ and that my lips are pursed, which is what you do when you say ‘m’ but not ‘n’.”

Lowry added: “None of this matters, of course, to an online mob that operates on the principle of ‘Shoot first, never bother to discern the truth.'”

Former Indiana Governor and US Vice President Mike Pence spoke out on X.

Pence wrote: “Come on @indianastate. You are better than this. @RichLowry is a good, decent man who is being smeared and canceled for something he never said, and it is verifiable. Reinstate his invitation. Do it now.”