University of Dayton disinvites UN guest speaker over views on reproductive rights, provokes condemnation

The University of Dayton, which hosted its Human Rights Center’s conference on the Social Practice of Human Rights, disinvited Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng over disagreement with her background and work related to reproductive rights. Originally, Mofokeng had been invited to speak about public health and the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Key Players

The University of Dayton (UD) is a private university in Dayton, Ohio, with a Catholic Marianist background. Since July 2016, Eric F. Spina has served as its president. 

The Human Rights Center (HRC) at UD is run by full-time faculty whose goal is to create “positive change through research, education and dialogue” around human rights. It hosted its biennial conference in December 2021, centered around how COVID-19 has affected human rights advocacy.

Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to health, had been invited to speak at the conference. Mofokeng is a physician from South Africa, and has spent her career advocating for universal access to healthcare, including HIV care, maternal and neonatal care, and has served as an abortion provider. Among her other advocacy roles, she is part of the boards of the Safe Abortion Action Fund and the Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing, and has worked as the Commissioner for Gender Equality in South Africa, according to her UN profile. 

Further Details

On Oct. 2, 2021, the HRC announced Mofokeng had been invited to speak at the center’s biennial conference. “We can’t wait to welcome the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health,” HRC tweeted. “Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng will discuss Covid’s impact on human rights.”

But on Oct. 11, UD informed Miranda Hallett, associate director of the Human Rights Studies Program, to “stand by and wait to hear” as the university decided whether or not to disinvite Mofokeng because of an objection to her views, Flyer News reported. 

On Oct. 28, 2021, HRC was informed the university had officially disinvited Mofokeng. UD stated, “As a Catholic, Marianist university, we welcome serious meaningful dialogue on critical issues of the day,” but that her “background and work related to reproduction is inconsistent with the University’s Catholic, Marianist mission and identity.” 

Jason Pierce, who served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the time, justified the decision by claiming Mofokeng’s participation would “prompt considerable negative reactions that would really disrupt the conference and distract from the other conference presenters and speakers.”

Hallett, on the other hand, expressed disappointment at the “de-platforming” of a keynote speaker. “When the university uninvited her, they stopped a conversation from happening that could have been really important and valuable,” Hallett said, adding that universities have an obligation to support “academic freedom” and “inclusive dialogue.” 

She added that avoiding reasoned dialogue “actually reinforces a false and superficial way of understanding the relationship between Catholic and Marianist principles … and ideas and values around women’s rights and reproductive justice.”

Outcome 

FIRE calls on UD to reaffirm its commitment to protect freedom of expression

On Feb. 9, 2022, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit that supports students and faculty in incidents related to Free Speech violations, condemned UD for going against its principles of academic freedom.

As the statement reads, “institutions that commit to expressive freedom can’t then grant themselves the authority to break that promise whenever speech is contrary to their own views.” 

In a letter sent on the same day, FIRE accused UD of believing “background and work related to reproduction” implied it disagreed with a certain viewpoint on abortion, highlighting that objectional views were “not a principled basis to bar faculty from hearing her speak.” 

FIRE added that in blocking Mofokeng from speaking, “UD restricted its faculty members’ rights to contribute to free and open dialogue on campus” and called on the university to “publicly reaffirm its laudable commitments to free expression and make clear that it will not disinvite speakers based on their viewpoints.”

UD responds 

On Feb. 10, 2022, UD responded to FIRE’s letter, asserting it had disinvited Mofokeng on account of her work as an “abortion provider,” rather than her viewpoints, adding that her “presence would have stood in sharp conflict with the University’s Catholic, Marianist mission and the right to life, a core tenet of Catholic social teaching.” 

However, FIRE contended UD still failed to address the main point of its letter, which had accused it of violating its own policies on academic freedom.