堪萨斯州托皮卡。——在威奇托州立大学校长取消了伊万卡·特朗普在该校技术学院毕业典礼上的虚拟演讲后，捐赠者正在推动堪萨斯州高等教育委员会解雇他。
堪萨斯州董事委员会周三召开了一次特别会议，就在两天前，一名来自威奇托的前董事说董事们应该要求杰伊·戈尔登总统辞职。戈尔登出席了至少四个小时的非公开会议的一部分。
随后，该委员会发表了一份简短声明，没有提及他或威奇托邦，表示其承诺“支持和促进言论自由、多样性和包容性。”
在学生和教师抗议后，戈尔登取消了特朗普的演讲。周三，学生们为戈尔登举行了一场即兴集会，截至周三晚上，已有近7200人签署了支持他的请愿书。
董事会的声明要求在“前所未有的时代”保持“耐心和理解”。
“我们期待加强与学生、校友和朋友的关系，”声明说。
寻求驱逐戈尔登的前摄政王斯蒂夫·克拉克周一给董事会成员发了一封信，称戈尔登取消总统演讲的决定唐纳德·特朗普《威奇托之鹰》报道，他的女儿威胁要与科赫工业公司建立数百万美元的关系，该公司是由亿万富翁和保守派政治捐助者查尔斯·科氏领导的大型企业集团。周三，他没有回复美联社的电话留言。
堪萨斯州参议院议长苏珊·瓦格尔是一名威奇托共和党人，也是威奇托州的毕业生，她说她“深感失望”，并补充道，当她在20世纪70年代还是学生时，“言论自由是校园里的一项基本权利。”
“我担心情况可能不再是这样了，”她说。
科赫工业公司的一名女发言人周三表示，对该大学的财政承诺正在兑现，尽管该公司反对取消演讲者，但它并没有将资助与大学就业行动挂钩。
克拉克是一家威奇托投资公司的董事长兼首席执行官，曾担任戈尔登和他的前任约翰·巴尔多的猎头委员会主席。巴尔多于2019年3月去世后，戈尔登于今年1月成为总统。
克拉克告诉董事们，科赫工业公司的官员和几个长期的捐助者和支持者“非常沮丧，并且在他们拒绝任何进一步支持的决定中直言不讳。”他说，取消特朗普的演讲损害了学校在高调捐助者中的声誉，只有金叶离开，关系才能恢复。
科赫工业公司的执行副总裁兼首席财务官史蒂夫·菲尔梅尔(Steve Feilmeier)在一封电子邮件中表示，他被邀请加入威奇托州立基金会董事会，演讲争议的解决方式将对他的决定“产生重大影响”。
该大学表示，科赫工业公司及其相关基金会在过去七年里已经在那里花费或承诺花费超过1500万美元。这所大学的篮球馆以查尔斯·科氏的名字命名。
公司女发言人杰西卡·科恩表示，在做出雇佣决定时，公司尊重“大学的独立性”。
但她也表示，科赫工业公司认为取消演讲者“切断了参与、辩论和批评的机会”
威奇托州有14，000名学生，包括大约3，000名技术学校学生，并且是一个国家航空研究所的所在地。威奇托及其郊区的部分地区在政治上较为保守，唐纳德·特朗普在2016年以18个百分点的优势拿下了该县。伊万卡·特朗普去年秋天访问了WSU理工大学，以推广其培训项目。
该大学周四宣布，她将在WSU理工大学的毕业典礼上发表虚拟演讲，并在一位教授的公开抗议信获得近500人签名后取消了演讲。信中说，允许演讲将表明WSU理工大学“不重视多样性”
几天前，华盛顿联邦指挥部的警察使用催泪弹来镇压和平抗议者，抗议乔治·弗洛伊德在明尼阿波利斯被警察拘留期间死亡。警方的行动允许总统在女儿的陪同下走向白宫附近的一座教堂，并拿着一本《圣经》摆姿势。总统还威胁要使用军队镇压暴力。
WSU理工大学校长谢里·尤塔什后来道歉，称宣布伊万卡·特朗普演讲的时机“不敏感”戈尔登曾表示，该大学致力于多元化，他取消了演讲，以避免因庆祝学生而分心。
伊万卡·特朗普回应道，她在推特上发布了一个链接，称大学应该是“言论自由的堡垒”
“取消文化和观点歧视与学术界是对立的，”她说。
Canceling Ivanka Trump spurs backlash for Kansas college
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Donors are pushing Kansas' higher education board to fire Wichita State University's president after he canceled a virtual speech by Ivanka Trump for its technical school's graduation.
The Kansas Board of Regents had a special Zoom meeting Wednesday, only two days after a former board member from Wichita said the regents should ask for President Jay Golden’s resignation. Golden was present for at least part of the four-hour closed meeting.
Afterward, the board issued a short statement that didn't mention him or Wichita State, expressing its commitment to “support and promote freedom of speech and diversity and inclusion.”
Golden canceled Trump's speech after students and faculty protested. Students staged an impromptu rally Wednesday for Golden, and nearly 7,200 people had signed a petition supporting him by Wednesday night.
The board's statement asked for “patience and understanding” in “unprecedented times.”
“We look forward to strengthening relationships with students, alumni and friends,” the statement said.
Steve Clark, the former regent seeking Golden's ouster, sent a letter Monday to board members saying Golden's decision to cancel the speech by PresidentDonald Trump's daughter threatens a multimillion-dollar relationship with Koch Industries, the vast conglomerate led by billionaire and conservative political donor Charles Koch, The Wichita Eagle reports. He did not return a telephone message Wednesday from The Associated Press.
Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican and Wichita State graduate, said she was “deeply disappointed," adding that when she was a student in the 1970s, “free speech was a fundamental right on campus.”
“I fear that may no longer be the case,” she said.
A Koch Industries spokeswoman said Wednesday that financial commitments to the university are being honored and, while it opposes canceling speakers, it doesn't tie funding to university employment actions.
Clark is the chairman and CEO of a Wichita investment firm who served as chairman of search committees for both Golden and his predecessor, John Bardo. Golden became president in January, after Bardo died in March 2019.
Clark told the regents that officials from Koch Industries and several longtime donors and supporters are “very upset and quite vocal in their decisions to disavow any further support.” He said canceling Trump's speech damaged the school’s reputation with high-profile donors and relationships can be restored only if Golden leaves.
Steve Feilmeier, Koch Industries' executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in an email that he's been asked to serve on the Wichita State Foundation board and how the speech controversy is resolved will “weigh heavily" on his decision.
The university has said Koch Industries and its associated foundations have spent or pledged to spend more than $15 million there in the past seven years. The university's basketball arena is named for Charles Koch.
Company spokeswoman Jessica Koehn said it respects “the university's independence” in making employment decisions.
But she also said Koch Industries believes canceling speakers “cuts off the chance to engage, debate, and criticize.”
Wichita State has 14,000 students, including some 3,000 at its technical school and is home to a national institute on aviation research. Parts of Wichita and its suburbs are politically conservative, and Donald Trump carried the county in 2016 by 18 percentage points. Ivanka Trump visited WSU Tech last fall to promote its training programs.
The university announced Thursday that she would give a virtual speech for WSU Tech's graduation and canceled it hours later after a professor's open letter of protest garnered nearly 500 signatures. The letter said allowing the speech would show that the WSU Tech “does not take diversity seriously.”
Days earlier, police under federal command in Washington used tear gas to force back peaceful protesters of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis while detained by police. The police action allowed the president to walk to a church near the White House and pose with a Bible, accompanied by his daughter. The president also threatened to use the military to quell violence.
WSU Tech President Sheree Utash later apologized, calling the timing of the announcement of Ivanka Trump's speech “insensitive.” Golden has said the university is committed to diversity and that he canceled the speech to avoid a distraction from celebrating the students.
Ivanka Trump responded by tweeting a link to her remarks and saying universities should be “bastions of free speech.”
“Cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination are antithetical to academia,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former Wichita-area congressman, called the cancellation “shameful."
